A Dragon's Slave
by noseinabook145
Summary: When Princess Lucy plans her escape from a brutal fiance, she expects to live unobtrusively as an average citizen. Instead, she is trapped in a dragon's hoard, beginning an adventure from which she'll need both her cleverness and compatriots to survive. I do not own Fairy Tail. Cover photo attributed to FloridaHottie of spreadshirt . com.
1. Time to Go

The vase shattered satisfyingly as it smashed into the wall, sending razor sharp pieces spiraling in all directions. They landed sporadically with a soft tinkling that was not nearly as satisfying as the first resounding crash. The girl responsible stared at the detritus surrounding her, breast heaving with barely controlled sobs, eyes bright with anger. She looked away and incrementally brought herself under control. Eventually, one side of her mouth curled into a humorless, rueful smirk.

"Well…I guess this is it then. Time to go."

Downstairs, the inhabitants of the castle prepared.

Across the land, a dragon preened before taking flight.

In the center of a bustling town, a jovial guild's preparations for a festival devolved into yet another twenty-person brawl.

Back in her tower, the girl glanced back at the remains of the vase as a familiar knock came at her door. An equally familiar voice called to her through the heavy wooden obstacle.

"Princess….is everything alright? I heard a crash!"

"Everything is fine, Ana…it was just a vase. I'll clean it up." The door opened, revealing a maid.

"No, Princess, please. It is my job," Ana insisted, already getting to work.

The princess looked away and sighed in frustration,

"If you must."

She stalked across the room to her desk and sat, chin in hands. To all the world, she looked the picture of a petulant princess: golden locks falling around her face, full lips pushed out in a pout, chocolate brown eyes staring mulishly out the window. But inside, her mind was churning. She had meant what she said. It was time to go. As she looked across the immaculately manicured gardens, she saw nothing but her prison. The courtiers that toured them, her guards. So she plotted.

Several hours later and the maid long gone, the princess had gathered everything she needed. Tomorrow, she would escape from her gilded cage. As she got into bed, she let her mind drift back to that afternoon: the meeting that had finally galvanized her into action.

" _Lucy. Sit"_

 _The princess—Lucy—obeyed, in a swirl of pink chiffon. She looked across the desk at her father, the King of Argyle and knew that whatever this meeting was about, she wouldn't like it. It was rare for her to be summoned into her father's presence, and even rarer for her to leave an audience with him without crying and breaking something afterwards._

 _Ever since her mother's death years ago, her father had become more and more distant, until she had finally come to realize that she was nothing more to him now than a pawn in his game of power. He was a good king, by all objective accounts—fair, just, and responsible for their highly prosperous country's rise under his rule. But none of that made him a good father._

" _I have arranged your marriage. The final negotiations have gone through, and all that is left is for you to meet your fiancé."_

 _Lucy sucked in a sharp breath. She had been expecting this, but not so soon! She had thought that she might get SOME kind of a say, but apparently, that was not to be the case._

" _What…I don't…Who is it?!" she cried, shocked into speech._

" _Prince Tristan, of Zinada. The match will improve our access to their ports and therefore our trade options."_

 _Now she flushed with rage. She understood—under duress and strong protest, yes, but the core concept was not lost on her—about marrying to improve the lives of your kingdom, but this? HIM? 'Prince' Tristan was nearly 40 years old, and was well-known to be not only cruel, but categorically unfaithful. He had already gone through two wives: the first divorced in disgrace for a younger, prettier woman; the second killed in childbirth (supposedly) barely six months ago. Lucy, and everyone else, had heard rumors that she had committed suicide, unable to tolerate her life under her husband any longer. Her father's choice confirmed all she had suspected of him._

 _Before she realized what she was doing, Lucy stood._

" _Never. Never, in a thousand years, will you sell me off to that monster! I know you see me as a pawn, but this? I'm your daughter! Does that mean NOTHING? Mother…mother would be ashamed!" she hissed, fists father had just looked at her coldly, devoid of sympathy._

" _You will marry Tristan. You will marry him, you will bear his children, you will uphold our family name, and, you will be waiting to greet him tomorrow, on the Day of the Dragon's Gift."_

Now, on the eve of her escape, Lucy stared up at the ceiling blankly, feeling all the indignity of the afternoon return. Tomorrow…she double checked the alarm lacrima next to her bed. She would have to be up early to get everything into place. The Day of the Dragon's Gift was always chaotic. Although thankfully, for once, that would count in her favor.

Argyle was a land of peace and trade, and the king had worked hard to keep in that way. One strategy to ensure this peace was allying with a dragon. For the past 50 years, the dragon had come once a year to accept a gift of gold and jewels from the kingdom. In return, anyone that declared war on Argyle knew that they were also declaring war on a fire-breathing beast.

Seven years ago, the aged, powerful dragon that had always come had stepped down, a younger, but no less scarred or commanding, dragon taking its place. Lucy was never allowed to go to the gifting ceremonies—something about dragons always wanting to steal princesses away—so she would be using that time to hide in a crate bound for Hagan, a city on the border of Argyle, near Fiore.

But, she couldn't do that if she didn't get some sleep, and wake up early! Punching her pillow into a more comfortable shape, Lucy drifted into a restless sleep.


	2. Day of the Dragon's Gift

**Hello everyone! I'm excited you're reading this! It's my first fic, so please review to let me know how you like the story and if you have any suggestions for me. I'll be uploading chapters 1-3 relatively quickly (trying to get you hooked-don't tell anyone), and then will be posting weekly on Thursdays. Enjoy!**

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They called the Day of the Gift a holiday, but as Lucy made her way down a back hallway with her supplies in the first light of dawn, she mused that it wasn't strictly accurate. In actuality, it more closely resembled bribery-a highly celebrated form of bribery, but bribery nonetheless.

Argyle was rich in trade and culture, but had a weak military force when compared with their neighbors. When her grandfather had been king, he'd sought a way to maintain peace without drafting the nation's men into an expensive standing army. Somehow he'd managed to broker a deal between his kingdom and a powerful fire dragon. Per the agreement, every year, the country gifted the beast gold, jewels, and other priceless treasures, and in return, the dragon pledged to come to their aid should the need arise. Since dragons were incredibly powerful, the alliance (alongside various trading treaties with most of the surrounding nations) did a great deal to keep Argyle safe. The ritual had been repeated for decades.

Then, several years ago, a much younger dragon had arrived with the elder. Argyle's first dragon had introduced the new dragon as his progeny, and confirm that he would take over the duties of the contract. So, as they had done annually for generations, the castle prepared for a large, terrifying lizard to swoop in and collect his payment. Expensive, certainly, but less costly than war.

Over the years, the event had taken on the hallmarks of a holiday, so most of the country would spend the day feasting and drinking as the castle scrambled to prepare. With all the commotion, Lucy planned to make good on her escape.

She slipped into a large, warehouse-like room. Inside were several crates packed with treasures for the dragon-and in one corner, a few more crates destined for the neighboring country of Fiore. Lucy had noted them yesterday when she had snuck down, as she liked to do every year, to see the gift for the dragon. She had assumed there was no space for them anywhere else, and so they'd been stuck, conveniently for her, in the room with the gift. What made these crates particularly useful was the shipping date and time: an hour before the gifting ceremony, the crates would be loaded onto a ship and sent far, far away from the castle. And Lucy was going with them. At least, that was the plan.

She slipped over to a smallish box, lifting the lid. Inside were bolts of cloth-a perfect, snuggly hiding place. She dropped her stolen rucksack inside, stocked with food, clothes, and cash. Now all she had to do was play nice for a few hours, and she could come back and join her pilfered supplies.

But after a few hours had passed, and Lucy was not where she should be. Instead she was sweating and cursing under her breath.

"Shit! I have to get down there! I have-" she checked the clock, "5 minutes until the men come to load the crates!? Shit! I don't even have time to change! Goddamn makeup artists, taking forever!" Lucy reached into the pocket of her gown, grabbing the two things she thought might make it possible to reach her crate-a small glass vial and a key ring. She sorted through the keys, before pulling one out. "Open! Gate of the Twins! Gemini!" With a poof, the two little spirits appeared before her in the air. "You know what I need, Gemini. Keep them off my back!"

"Piri piri! You got it, Lucy!" The twins transformed, taking on Lucy's carefully dolled-up appearance. Lucy meanwhile had popped the cork out of the vial and swallowed it down. She vanished, and her disembodied voice seemed to come from nowhere.

"Thanks guys! Stay a few hours, ok?"

Lucy, now happily invisible, quickly made her way off down the hall as Gemini twirled in the hallway, sending their skirts flaring and nearly knocking over an expensive little side table.

She made it back to the store room just in time to sneak into her crate before the servants appeared and began loading the boxes. There was a small crack in the side of the box, but not enough for anyone to see in. Lucy still huddled down in the middle and pulled a bolt of cloth across her. This invisibility potion she'd smuggled out of the storeroom wouldn't last long, and she if she pushed her eye up against the crack someone was bound to see her. It was because of this desire to stay hidden, with her head buried in blankets, that she didn't realize something important-her crate wasn't going to Fiore. Rather, she was being wheeled directly to the central palace courtyard, where servants had been working since dawn to prepare the ceremony for the Day of the Dragon's Gift.

Lucy sat, huddled in her crate, head buried in the cloth. After about five minutes of motion, she stopped, presumably in the vehicle that was to take her to the ship. But if she was in the back of a vehicle...why was it so loud? And-as she lifted her head-why was it so bright? Quickly checking her hands to make sure the potion was still in effect, Lucy brought her eye up to the crack in the boards.

Oh.

Oh, no.

She was in the central courtyard, surrounded by nobles and servants and gifts! Hell, she even saw _herself-_ or, Gemini disguised as her-standing next to her father and an ugly, pervy looking bastard she assumed was her betrothed. She felt a momentary cringe for Gemini, silently promising to make it up to the spirit soon, before reverting back to her state of near panic. What was she going to do?! She was surprised the potion had lasted this long, and she couldn't risk lifting the lid of the crate. She could summon Virgo to dig her out, but all the guards and magical security measures would surely pick up on a magically created tunnel. Her only real option seemed to be to wait, and try to escape while the dragon was flying her crate back to god-knows-where dragons went. Too bad she didn't have a flying spirit….but Horoglium had come through before in near death situations, and she had to think he could come through again if she was dropped. Just as she came to the nerve-wracking decision, she heard it. Over the noise of the gathered crowd, she could make out the sound of wing-beats. And they were steadily getting louder.

A sudden loud roar echoed overhead and she eeped, flinching into the cloth. The cloth which, as she took a moment to berate herself for not noticing this morning, was a fine, ruby-red silk, just _perfect_ for a dragon's gift. Why hadn't she picked the crate of apples right next to it? No one gave a dragon apples! She could have been on her way to Fiore right now!

She was shocked out of her panicked musings by a thud that shook the ground. The dragon had landed. She had never actually seen the dragon before-something about dragon's wanting to eat princesses had caused her father to keep her inside in previous years, under guard. But of course he'd wanted her to be seen by her betrothed and the people to further solidify the union. Nevermind the supposed danger, there was a princess to sell! She heard Jude's voice ring out over the yard, thanking the dragon and 'humbly' offering the gift to ensure their 'continued relations.' Then a rumble from the dragon, in which she could barely make out speech. Presumably a suitable thanks for the bribe and promise to make barbeque out of any enemies they might have. How sweet.

Lucy was prepared to wait through several more pompous speeches, but suddenly a shadow passed overhead and she was quickly aware of the dragon's claw reaching over the pile of tributes. When his arm passed back over, she realized with a start that he had grabbed the edges of a large net, inside which all of the crates and bundles were placed. In the blink of an eye he had all four corners together, and without any further warning, he launched himself into the air, taking his bribe-and Lucy-with.

She couldn't help it. She shrieked as she was lifted up at an alarming pace. Pressing her eye to the crack in the crate, she saw the castle receding astonishingly quickly. At the same time, she realized that between the combination of the speed and the net, there was no way for her to escape while the dragon flew. Lucy gulped. What now? Should she summon a spirit anyway? No-the dragon would almost certainly be able to sense the magic. Her best chance was to huddle down and stay hidden for a time. She had to hope that there would be a chance to escape once they landed. And when would that be? Who even knew where the dragon lived? At some point, she was going to have to use the bathroom. Lucy shuddered at the thought. She peered out the crack, watching the scenery pass by. She couldn't deny that it was beautiful up here. The dragon was so lucky, being able to see the vastness of the land spread out beneath him whenever he wanted.

Several hours passed, and night began to fall. Lucy had ooh'd and ahh'd over the beauty of the sunset, but as dark pressed in she began to worry. Would they fly through the night? Suddenly, the dragon twisted in the air, angling itself down into a steep nosedive. Lucy screamed in terror. What was happening? Had they been attacked? Was she about to be smashed into the earth, cushioned by one pathetic pile of silk? Just as she was about to summon a spirit, dragon-magic-sensing-powers or not, the flight evened out. Lucy sat back, gasping for air, as they abruptly slowed and then finally landed. She had just begun to catch her breath when the dragon began dragging the net along the ground. A low, scraping rumble was heard in the direction of travel, and Lucy gasped as the meager amount of light given off by the stars vanished. After a few more minutes of being dragged in impenetrable darkness, the motion stopped. A second later, light flickered into being. She heard the dragon grumble and what sounded suspiciously like a yawn. Then she heard its heavy footsteps slowly walk away from her. She waited with baited breath. If it was too tired to inspect its loot now...maybe it would go to sleep...she could escape! Lucy waited until she couldn't hear its footsteps anymore, then gave it another 5 minutes. Her heart hammered and her palms were sweaty. If she was going to do this, it had to be now! She slung her rucksack across her back, palmed her keys, and made sure her whip was secure on her hip. Mentally, she cursed the fact that she was still stuck in a gown. Slowly, ever so carefully, she inched the top of the crate up, until she could peek her eyes over the opening. Not seeing any hints of movement, she opened the top enough to slip (well, fumble...damn gowns) out the top and onto the ground.

Lucy couldn't help it, she gasped. She was a princess of one of the richest nations in the world, she had wealth beyond measure...but never had she encountered anything like this. She was in an enormous cavern, lit by torches spaced along the walls. Everywhere was the gleam of gold. There were mounds of coins, treasures cast about with no rhyme or reason. She could see crowns, art, bolts of rich cloth like the ones she had stowed away on-and that was just in the pile in front of her. There seemed to be several tunnels branching off the main cavern. She assumed one led to the exit, and one led to the dragon. The thought was enough to bring her out of the gold induced stupor. She gulped, then narrowed her eyes and hardened her will. Judging by the direction the cargo had been dragged in, the entrance was dead ahead. She began to sneak toward the tunnel. She'd made it about halfway around the large pile of treasure when a voice sounded behind her, making her heart stop.

"Where you goin', pretty lady?"


	3. Trapped

**Hi everyone! Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed. Even if I didn't get the chance to respond, I read them all and got warm fuzzies. From here on out, update day is Thursday. I've got up through Chapter 8 written, so hopefully I'll be able to keep up! If anyone is interested, I did write and post a one shot today called "Incubus' Bite." It is very much rated M. Hope you all enjoy the chapter and I'll see you Thursday!**

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Lucy whirled around, her heart pounding in time with her thoughts. "Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap!" Standing a few meters away, silhouetted against the torch behind him, stood a man, maybe 6 inches taller than her. She couldn't make out his features, but she could see the outline of his horns. And, with a jolt of terror, she saw wings begin to stretch out from behind him. With a gasp, Lucy realized: _this was the dragon._

As soon as she came to her conclusion she turned and sprinted away, toward the opening she'd identified earlier. She could hear the clatter of gold under her feet, and identified a second set of loud, jangly footsteps behind her. Getting closer. Then, the footsteps vanished, and a second later a form flew overhead and the man landed in front of her in a crouch, blocking the exit. Lucy pulled up short, scrambling to keep her bearing amongst the coins slipping under her feet. She grasped her whip and sent it curling toward the man. He let out a surprised shout when she managed to wrap it around his ankle and send him flying. She took off toward the entrance again, not daring to look back and see where he landed. _If he landed…._ The entrance loomed closer. 10 meters...8….6… with 3 meters to go, a hand grabbed her just above the elbow and launched her back across the room. She landed in a shower of treasure, rolling several times before coming to a stop, face down. _Well, that's one positive thing about these poofy gowns,_ she thought, _at least they soften the landing._ Although, she couldn't ignore the angry thought that she would've been faster without it.

Lucy struggled to push herself upright. When she once again stood, she reaching for her whip-only to find it missing from her hip. Panicked, she looked up, only to see the man-dragon holding it between two fingers, almost teasingly. His eyes were covered by his hair and he stood in the shadow of a treasure mountain, so she still couldn't get a good look at his features. But she could hear his low, rough voice perfectly well.

"Looking for this?"

Rhetorical questions seemed to be his strong suit, a part of her brain noted distractedly. The rest of her gibbered in terror, before finding her backbone as the princess of Argyle and a mage in her own right.

"Why yes, actually, I am. I don't suppose you'd be so kind as to hand it back?" She asked, holding a hand out presumptively. Two could play at this rhetorical question game, she thought, her knees knocking together as she shook. He chuckled. Then, finally, he stepped out into the light, meeting her gaze.

When she saw all of him, her breath stopped for a moment. He was tanned, and wore a black, open vest and baggy white pants. Around his neck was an odd white scarf. What skin she could see (and she could see a fair amount) rippled with lean muscle and was crisscrossed with scars. His eyes were large and expressive-she saw anger and a spark of smug amusement-and his mouth was pulled up in a smirk. His hair...uh….she paused. Pink!? What the hell? He was pulling it off, though. Maybe it was the whole 'fire dragon' thing, although she would have guessed red hair. With a grimace, Lucy forcibly snapped herself out of her perusal of his body, reminding herself that, no matter how hot the guy was, he was an honest-to-god fire-breathing dragon whose hoard she'd just invaded. He spoke, and her attention riveted back to the situation at hand.

"Cute, but I think I'll keep it." With that, he threw her weapon. She watched as it arched up and over a mound of treasure and out of sight. Then he looked back at her. "Whether or not I keep or kill _you_ depends on your story. Are you here to try to steal from me?"

She gasped. "N-no! It was a mistake! I never meant to be here! I was just trying to stow away and I-I messed up! That's why I was headed for the exit, I just wanted to leave! I'm sorry, please! Please let me go!" Lucy made her eyes as big as she could, and mustered up (to be honest, it took very, _very,_ little effort) a few pathetic tears. Maybe if she looked helpless he would let her go...her story was true, after all! For a moment it looked as though he was considering it, but then a smirk made its way over his face and the glint of amusement came back into his eyes.

"I believe you, darlin'. But letting you go wasn't one of the options."

Lucy, though hoping her sublime acting skills would pay off, was ready for plan B. Whipping out her keys, she shouted "Open! Gate of the Lion, Leo!" She tensed, ready to use the burst of light her strongest spirit gave off to dart behind the treasure mound, and use their fight as a distraction to sprint for the entrance. Usually she fought with her spirits, but with no whip and a stupid gown she was outclassed. The key blazed, Lucy let out a war cry, and then….nothing happened. The blaze of light pulsed for a moment, as though someone was attempting to force a door open, then died down around her fingers. Lucy gaped at it.

"O-Open! Gate of the Lion! Leo! LEO!" She pushed her magic hard, only to be rewarded with silence from the key. She stared, unbelieving. Then a voice next to her ear purred, "Didn't you know, princess? A dragon's hoard is protected physically _and_ magically from intruders. You got here on a fluke, but you won't be summoning any of your friends." Before she could move, arms wrapped around her, trapping her hands by her sides. The dragon lifted her and began to drag her deeper into the hoard. Lucy kicked and screamed, but the arms wrapped around her were corded with muscle, and she knew it was no use.

"Knock it off, will you? You're already heavy enough without all the stupid squirming! Although I guess that's better if I want to eat you…"

Lucy gasped in a mixture of horror and outrage. How dare he call her heavy! And holy shit, was he actually going to eat her? Was this the end? She was too pretty for this! Why had she ever left home?! With that thought came images of her father and her supposed fiance. Lucy realized that even if she died here, roasted and eaten, at least it would be because she'd _done_ something, instead of passively accepting her fate. And that made the whole stupid, long, terrifying day feel somehow worth it. At least, until she saw where she'd been dragged to.

At the back of the cavern was a smaller secondary cave. This one was set up like a little house. There was a kitchenette, a table, and...and...a large, four poster bed. Towards which she was being pulled. Lucy panicked. Forget eaten, he was going to rape her! Everyone had been right about dragons and princesses all along! She was going to get ripped in half by some huge dragon dong and then forced to have his dragon babies, which she was sure would rip their way out of her unforgivingly, and _then_ he would eat her! Lucy didn't realize that she was hyperventilating and rambling her thoughts out loud until she was unceremoniously dumped on the ground at the foot of the bed, and the dragon-man crouched with unerring swiftness in front of her. He grabbed her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. "For fuck's sake! I was kidding about eating you! And I'm not raping you! Christ! Now _shut up,_ and _stay there!"_ He stood and stomped off out of the little cave, rooting through a treasure mound just outside. She sat there, shakily drawing in breaths, not daring to move. Not eating or raping her? Could she trust him? He came back in, holding two objects in his hands. Her mind whirling, she didn't recognize their importance until he was right in front of her again, buckling a gemstone studded collar onto her neck. She gasped, but he gave no indication of having heard her, only looping the golden chain through a belt-loop like opening in the collar and locking it with a tiny golden lock and key. The key went on a chain around his neck. Then he stood, holding the other end of her chain in his hand, and a metal stake in the other. The stake was nearly as long as she was tall, and engraved with complex, beautiful designs. He raised the stake over his head, and then, using the entire strength of his arm, back, and shoulders, drove it one handed into the floor nearly two feet deep. He then threaded the other end of the chain, about 10 feet long, through a loop in the end of the staff, and locked it with a matching golden lock and the same key. He stepped back, took a look at his handiwork, grunted, and walked out of the cave again. It was then that Lucy's shocked brain realized that she was well and truly trapped.

Outside in the main, treasure-filled portion of the cave, the dragon-man walked swiftly past golden mounds to the center, where the new crates sat. When he reached them, he stopped for a moment before blowing out a harsh breath and running a hand through his hair. What was he _doing?_ Did he really just chain some girl up next to his _bed?_ But what was he supposed to do? He tried to avoid killing people on sight, whatever they might say about him, and he couldn't let her go...he admitted that this was a lie. He could have. He could have blindfolded her, flown her to a neighboring country, and left her there. He doubted she'd remember the location of his hoard. Maybe he should do that anyway-no! She was _his!_ He'd found her, and now he got to keep her!

The viciousness of the thought surprised him, but he was, after all, a dragon, and they were greedy by nature. An image rose before him: her as she'd rose up out of the crate. Although she'd scared the living shit out of him when he'd heard the rustling in the crate, he'd quickly tuned in to the heartbeat and ragged breathing of an intruder and hidden behind a large throne he'd gotten her to be a thief, he'd lit the torches and waited. But when he'd seen her, he knew she couldn't be a thief. For one thing, who wore a golden ball gown to go hunting through a dragon's hoard? It might've been the sparkling dress that sealed her fate, he thought. Although even without it, she was gorgeous. When he'd first seen her slipping over the edge of the box, brown eyes wide, breast heaving, hair like electrum perfectly matching her dress, he'd been stunned. In that moment, the greed had surfaced and overwhelmed him, and he'd decided he had to have her. But why was she here? His brow quirked. Was the kingdom giving him beautiful women as a gift, now? He shrugged. He'd never gotten one before, but he wasn't about to complain. Although this gift brought with it a host of other problems.

The dragon grumbled. Aside from his familiar, he lived alone. He traveled out to the guild he associated with several days a week, but he was mostly by himself, with Happy, or roaming the countryside on jobs. He didn't know how to interact with people very well. He also supposed that he would need to provide her with food and couldn't leave her alone for weeks at a time while he went on a mission or guarded his territory. The dragon reflected that this gift may be more trouble than helpful. But then he shook his head. She was his, so who gave a crap about how they interacted? He would bring food and whatever else female humans needed, and she could clean the hoard and cook for him and tell him stories-wait. No stories. He was a badass and badasses didn't need stories. He hummed. He liked the golden gown on a golden girl, but cleaning would get it dirty. What would she wear? His eyes darkened-nothing? He'd like that. A low growl rumbled up from his chest as he thought about what else he could do to her, now that she was a part of his hoard. A moment later it died as if snuffed out, and his eyes snapped open, irritated with his thoughts. Though she might be his now, her body was her own. Although, he smirked, she looked like she blushed easily. No one said he couldn't tease her to bring the flush back to her face as often as possible. He was a predator, he would enjoy toying with her. His eyes fell on her bag, and he swung it over one shoulder and started walking briskly back towards his room. After she got changed, she could make him food while he went through his takings for the day.

Lucy looked up from where she'd been pulling at the pole he'd thrust into the ground. It wouldn't budge! Just how strong was this dragon guy? Shit! He was back! Quickly she backed herself up against the wall as he came towards her, dark eyes gleaming. She held her breath as he came close, and started when he unceremoniously dumped her bag at her feet.

"There's a bathroom to your left. Get changed. The chain is magic, it'll extend out as far as you need, but it won't go beyond the cavern. You're also not going to be able to cut or burn through, so...don't bother." He smirked. "When you're done, give me the dress."

The dress? What the hell? She couldn't help it. "You're a perv!" she exclaimed. "Like hell you're getting my _clothes._ " Suddenly she felt herself caged against the wall by a pair of muscled arms. The dragon leaned in close, so that she could feel his breath on her ear as he murmured "Love, if I were a perv...I would have taken the dress _without_ giving you anything in return. Test me, and I still might." He leaned back enough that she could see his face, that damnable smirk still on it. He hovered there a moment, and she noticed distractedly that his eyes weren't all black like she'd thought, but had flecks of green within them. The heat radiating off him was intense, and she felt her breath catch. Then he pushed off the wall, turned, and walked away. "Get changed. I don't have all day," he threw back over his shoulder. She stood frozen for a heartbeat more before snatching the bag up and hurrying into the bathroom, making sure never to take her eyes off the dragon. Once the door was closed behind her, she put a hand up to her face.

"Crap….I'm as red as a tomato!"

Outside, he chuckled. She'd been as red as a tomato!

Several minutes later, as he amused himself melting down random gold coins and fashioning them into mini flames, he heard the door open. Glancing up, he raised a brow. She looked way more normal in her white top, blue shorts, and brown boots, but weren't they all a little risque? Here he thought he'd be the one teasing her, not the other way around. Regardless, the new outfit didn't make her any less desirable. She'd taken down her updo and replaced it with twin pigtails. The overall effect was quite charming.

Lucy caught the way his eyes lingered on her, and she hugged the ball gown to her body to cover herself. This was all she had! Most of what was in her princess-closet was too stuffy to wear post-escape, so she only had a few smuggled outfits stashed away. Although, now she was wishing she'd packed some more of the stuffy gowns. She gulped, but was determined not to shrink back as the dragon stood and sauntered over to her. He pulled the gown away from her and gave her an easy once over, before stepping back and pointing to the table. "Sit. We have some ground rules to lay out." She sat. He dropped into the chair across from her, casually discarding the dress onto the third chair.

"So. You're part of my hoard now. That means you do what I want, and you don't leave. You can't summon your spirits in here, and the chain won't let you leave. So give up escape right now." Lucy stared at him, aghast at her new position. "What...what do you expect me to do?" She desperately hoped that they didn't include anything-ahem- _physical._ He smiled. "You'll cook and take care of Happy, of course! Dragons eat a lot and he's a handful, so you'll have plenty to do." He looked smug. Lucy let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Cooking and...babysitting? That sucked, but given some of the lurid stories she'd read about dragons and princesses...she looked up to find him pinning her with that intense gaze once again. "Something wrong?" he asked. "Oh, no! I, uh, thought there might be, uh, _other_ things, uhm...you know," she hedged awkwardly, once again flushing a bright pink. The dark grin spread across his face. "Nothing like that, darling...not unless you want there to be." Lucy squeaked, "No! No, I'll cook!" "And take care of Happy," he reminded her. Lucy looked befuddled. _What was a Happy?_

The man hummed. "What's your name?" Her chin came up. She studied him for a moment, determining if she should relinquish something so personal, when he'd already taken everything from her in just an afternoon. He smirked, "I could just call you Slave-or Slave Girl, and you could just call me Master Dragon-" She cut him off. "It's Lucy." He stopped a moment, looking her over. "Lucy," he tasted her name on his tongue. It fit her. He offered her his first genuine smile of the night. "It's nice to meet you, Lucy. I'm Natsu."


	4. Welcome to the Hoard

**If anyone got two emails about this chapter, it's because I uploaded and then immediately spotted an error, so I wanted to fix it asap. Sorry! Thanks to everyone who followed and favorited and reviewed! I know I don't respond to all the reviews personally (one day I'll be less busy), but I read them all and they give me the warm fuzzies. Congrats to Chubby Giraffe for your hilarious username-I may have spit my drink a little bit when I saw it and I wanted to give you a shoutout for that. Anyway, enjoy! As always, let me know what you like, what you don't, any ideas you may have!**

* * *

"Alright, _Lucy_. I'm going to look through my new stuff, you make dinner for when I'm done. I could eat a horse after everything today." With that, the dragon-Natsu, she reminded herself-stood from the table and sauntered off into the main cavern. Lucy sat frozen for a moment. Make dinner? What was she supposed to cook? What time was it supposed to be done? Could he really eat a horse? As her gaze traveled around the kitchen area, her nose wrinkled. It looked like a cross between a hoarder's wet dream and a murder scene. She shuddered, but got up. It didn't seem wise to test the limits of a hangry dragon.

Lucy minced over to the icebox, gingerly lifting the lid. She let out a breath. It was stocked with pounds of what looked like venison. She let the lid drop before carefully opening the cupboards one by one. She was pleased to find a well stocked kitchen, although she learned to stay out of the way while opening the doors after being buried in spices from the second cupboard. After taking an inventory, she decided on roasted rosemary venison with garlic mashed potatoes. Try though she might, there didn't appear to be any vegetables. Lucy blessed the chefs from the palace from the bottom of her heart. Without sneaking down to the kitchen for secret lessons while her father was on business trips, she would be worse than useless right now. But first...the murder scene. She gulped. Cooking was one thing, but cleaning? Princesses didn't clean. But here she wasn't a princess. She was a slave, chains and all. So Lucy ran water in the sink and started to daintily scrub at the dishes. As she worked, her mind drifted to Natsu. She should be scared of him, and she was. But something about him sent shivers down her spine, and not in a frightening way. Why did he have to say her name like that? So, so _seductively._ She closed her eyes and felt a tremor settle low in her stomach. Still with her eyes shut, she reached forward for the next dish, only to encounter a rag that smelled and felt as though it had been festering in its spot for months. She threw it away from her with a shriek of disgust, all provocative thoughts replaced with irritation. Grimacing, Lucy doubled down on her scrubbing.

* * *

In the larger cavern, Natsu started going through the day's taking, greedily holding up each item before tossing it into a new pile. He purred deep in his chest. It was a good addition to his hoard, and certainly the most interesting one to date, what with a live human in the mix. He wondered idly if her country had thought he'd eat her. He still wasn't entirely sure what to _do_ with a human pet, but remembering their fight, he supposed she could spar with him sometime. It might be interesting to see what she could do with that whip out of a poofy ballgown. Speaking of...he reached over and picked it up. It smelled like her, strawberries and something a little citrusy, with hints of earth buried beneath the other, lighter, scents. Natsu found that he liked it. She'd be worth keeping if the place smelled more like this. He got up, taking the dress with, and began to rummage through a pile closer to the wall of the cavern. After a moment, he yanked an old dressmaker's dummy from underneath a stately oak wardrobe and a pile of ancient headdresses encrusted with gems. Now carrying the gown and dummy both, he headed toward the very back of his hoard. Slipping through a crevice in the rock large enough for a man to fit through, he entered another pocket of space in the stone. Compared to the rest of the grotto, it was small, although still the size of the ballroom in Lucy's castle. It was lit softly by crystals glowing either a soft blue or a warm yellow. The effect was that of standing in a warm ocean. This section of his reservoir held his memories. Without really understanding why-what was so important about one more gift, even if it was alive?-he set the dummy in the midst of the carefully organized clutter and fit the dress on it. Stepping back, he looked at it, nodding at how it gleamed in the gentle light.

Re-entering the cave proper, Natsu's nostrils flared as they caught the mouth-watering scent of venison. Turning sharply, he trotted into his living quarters , only to come to a halt as his jaw dropped. His kitchen was sparkling clean. He hadn't even known his counters were that color. His eyes flicked over to the girl- _Lucy,_ he reminded himself-and then one brow quirked up as she bent over the fireplace, giving him a generous look at something beside her cleavage. Silent as a shadow, he padded up behind her, so that when she straightened up and turned she bumped into his chest and would've toppled into the fire with a squeak of alarm had he not caught her around the waist.

Lucy squealed as she turned directly into a rock hard wall of muscle, hard enough to fall backward toward the flames below. Her breath whooshed out as she was firmly gripped by two hands, one placed in the curve of her lower back and the other nestled between her shoulder blades. She looked up into mischievous dark eyes. He leaned forward, and she trembled, only to note his eyes dart away to glance at the food. His gaze returned to her, seemingly with some reluctance, and just as that impish glint came back, his stomach let out an earth shaking growl. She couldn't help it: she giggled. His brows went up and he somehow looked offended, amused, and pouty all at once, and she noted his eyes still longingly darted toward the food. The giggle turned into a laugh, and it gave her the strength she needed to break away from his hold and grab two plates.

"I hope you're as hungry as you said you were, because I made a horse." She placed the plates on the table, and carefully lifted the meat off the spit before grabbing the large bowl of potatoes. They'd barely sat down before Natsu lunged for the food. Lucy watched for a moment, horrified and fascinated in equal measure. Then she snapped out of it and quickly loaded a plate of her own, realizing if she didn't there would be nothing left. Somehow he managed to put down four times what she did, and still finished before her. He sat back, rubbing his stomach in contentment.

"You can stay."

Lucy looked up sharply. "What...what if you hadn't liked it?!" Would he have killed her? Let her go? Used her for dragon baby breeding after all? She watched as one eye lazily fluttered open to consider her. "Mmmmm-guess you would've cleaned more and Happy would've taught ya'." Oh. Not a particularly exciting outcome then.

"Who is Happy?" she asked, confused. Was Happy another dragon? Another person, trapped like her? His eyes brightened. "Happy is my friend! He's not here tonight, he's out on a mission with another team. He can't come to your ceremony thing, obviously, so he spends the day with the others."

Now Lucy's head was spinning. Others? Missions? And seriously, what _was_ Happy? His answer had only confused her more. She realized that dinner was over, and hurriedly got up to clear the table, assuming that this was now part of her new role. The chain clanked lightly as she moved, a constant presence. She made quick work of washing up, and was putting away the last plate when a wave of exhaustion hit her. It had been a long and terrifying day. But as she turned, she discovered a new problem; there was only one bed. Upon which lounged a half naked, extremely sexy dragon. And he was looking at her. As she stood, frozen for what felt like the millionth time that day, he patted the bed.

"C'mon, Lucy. I think we're both tired." He smirked. "Aren't you sleepy?"

Lucy pressed her back into the counter, surprising them both with the vehemence of her hiss. "No! I will _not_ give myself away to the likes of you, you pervert!" Then she caught herself, terrified. This man could literally do whatever he wanted to her. While she would fight tooth and nail, yelling and calling him names was not the brightest idea. Plus, she doubted her teeth and nails would do anything but excite him. His eyes narrowed for a moment and her heart stopped, but then he smiled tightly. "I'm not going to force you. But, if you insist, the floor is all yours." He gestured to the foot of the bed, where one threadbare blanket was crumpled on the ground. Lucy swallowed, comparing it in her mind to her four poster bed at home, piled high with silken pillows. Then comparing her bed to the one he reclined on, if possible even grander and more comfortable looking than her own. But she straightened her shoulders and stepped forward to pick up the blanket before curling up underneath it on the hard floor. She heard Natsu snort from above her, but she refused to give up her pride, no matter how uncomfortable she was! So, shivering and miserable, Lucy dropped into an exhausted sleep.

Natsu waited until he heard her breathing even out before crawling to the foot of the bed and peering over. Damn, did that look uncomfortable. She'd have a helluva crick in her neck when she woke up. He felt a pang of pity. Ugh, why did it matter? She _chose_ to sleep there. Not that he gave her much of a choice...Natsu huffed out a sigh. Slipping out of bed, he carefully lifted her and deposited her on the far side of the bed. "Can't have a tired slave. She'd probably burn the food," he told himself. With Lucy settled under the blankets, he curled up next to her and let her breathing lull him to sleep.

* * *

 **In Argyle**

King Jude paced furiously in his study, nearly choleric with rage. It was now nearly 6 hours since what he'd thought was his daughter had been revealed to be one of those _things_ she carried around on her belt. He had been standing with the Prince and Lucy, when suddenly she had begun to flicker, before suddenly reforming into those devilish blue spirits and then vanishing in a shower of golden sparks. He should have known everything was going too smoothly; that damnable child had been far too biddable throughout the afternoon. The only thing he could see that she'd inherited of his beloved wife were her looks. And that damn magic. He knew he should've kept those keys locked up! He grunted. See where sentiment had gotten him? Layla had wanted her to practice, and though he'd gotten rid of most reminders of his beloved wife, but he'd honored that last wish. Now, not only would he have to spend men on some wild-goose chase to find his heir, but the fragile alliance with Prince Tristan was in danger of fracturing. The prince in question was sitting in a plush armchair by the fire, one leg crossed over the other, chin rested on one fist. He was a shorter man, with broad shoulders and a sharp jaw. His hair was dark and threaded with silver, matching grey eyes. He dressed in rich colors and fabrics-red velvet, deep blue satin. He seemed handsome, until one noticed the sly spark in his eyes and the cruel set to his mouth. As Jude stopped to look at him, he smiled. "Jude, allow me to clarify the situation. I'm afraid I'm still at a bit of a loss, what with all the commotion today. The girl I got to know today-that was never the Princess, was it? It was one of her spirits, the mimicry one?"

Jude nodded, a little irked that the Prince did not address him by title. "That is correct."

"And this spirit is one of the Zodiacs, yes? One of ten that she commands?"

Again, the king inclined his head, jaw tight.

"So, the Princess must be quite powerful then, to be able to control a spirit outside its gate for so many hours, especially as she presumably got further and further away." The Prince inspected one manicured hand. "That much power could be...valuable."

Jude's jaw clenched even further, were such a thing possible, and he spoke stiltedly through stiff lips. "Once again, I must apologize for the Princess's actions. I am sure she will be quickly found and brought to heel; it is not as though she can cross the border with the entirety of the guard searching for her. I assure you-" The Prince cut him off, standing fluidly.

"I have no doubt of that, Jude. You need not fear the dissolution of the alliance. In fact, allow me to help you search. I have a group of, ah, associates, whom I would be happy to involve."

Jude considered for a moment. National pride demanded he bring his disgrace of a daughter back, but he would prefer the matter be resolved as soon as possible. And if Prince Tristan wished to get involved, it meant he was more likely to go through with the marriage and alliance once she was found. That could only benefit his country and people. He extended his hand. "I would welcome your assistance."

And the Prince smiled.


	5. Scheming

**Hello everyone! Hope you enjoy the next installment!**

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Lucy woke up slowly. She was impossibly comfortable and delightfully warm. Not hearing the sound of the maids bustling about her room and sensing no sunlight beginning to sneak its stealthy way onto her face, she assumed it was still early. The country could get along without her for a bit longer, couldn't it? Sighing lightly, she snuggled into the source of the warmth and prepared to drift into dreamland for another hour or so. At least, that was the plan. What _wasn't_ the plan was the chirpy, high-pitched, loud-as-all-hell voice that suddenly shrieked into her ear. "NATSU! IS THIS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I LEAVE FOR THE DAY?! YOU REPLACE ME WITH SOME FAT UGLY CHICK?!"

Lucy shot upright, all comfortable drowsiness gone. She flailed, only for her elbow to slam into something hard, and she heard an "oof!" before the world went sideways and she tilted out of bed and landed on the ground in a tangle of limbs. Limbs that she realized were not all hers. The thing her elbow had hit appeared to be a set of impressive abdominal muscles. She gaped open mouthed at the man beneath her, before it all came flooding back. The Day of the Dragon's Gift. Her partially successful flight that had ended with her cooking a scaled monster-turned-surprisingly-handsome-man dinner. Falling asleep on the ground….wait. Lucy jumped up, spun on her heel, and delivered a well placed kick to her captor's solar plexus with an accompanying cry of "Pervert!" as he went flying. Watching him slam into a gem-encrusted grandfather clock with a clang, she smirked, before noticing two things.

One: Though the collar was still fastened around her neck, the chain had been disconnected.

Two: There was a blue cat with _wings_ staring at her. And if she recalled correctly, it had called her fat. And ugly.

The first fact made her want to rush headlong from the room, but the dragon was next to the door, and even lying on the ground moaning, she didn't want to chance it. Besides, the talking, flying, asshole blue cat-bird thing was taking up all of her attention.

"What the hell are you?"

It looked at her with wide eyes, which instantly teared up as her words hit. He (she thought it was a he, but even without clothes she wasn't getting any visual clues) torpedoed over to the pink haired pervert, slamming him back into the ground just as he sat up. "WAH! Natsu! The weird girl is being mean! Why'd you bring her home? Couldn't you at least replace me with someone pretty and nice?" Lucy stewed, ready to teach this damn catbird some manners, when Natsu laughed and ruffled the blue fur. "Sorry, Happy. I thought we'd be up before you got home so I could tell you. This is Lucy. She came as part of the gift yesterday, so she's gonna cook and stuff now!" He beamed at the catbird, who squinted across the room at Lucy suspiciously. "Can she cook fish?"

Lucy blinked. _This_ was Happy? The person Natsu had been talking about? And it wanted fish? "Umm...sure? I mean, yeah, I can cook fish, I guess." The catbird's- _Happy,_ she reminded herself-demeanor immediately did a 180. He zoomed out of Natsu's arms and across the room, slamming himself into her chest. She staggered back a step, sitting down hard on the edge of the bed. "Fish! Nevermind, Natsu, she can stay! But only if we get fish everyday!" A thin string of drool slipped out of his mouth and dripped onto her breast. Lucy squealed in horror, "Get off!" and sent him flying across the room before grabbing an edge of a blanket to scrub at the contaminated skin. A belly laugh made her look up, only to see Natsu rolling on the floor, laughing. She wasn't sure if it was at her, Happy, or both. Crossing her arms, she leveled him with a glare. "I still want to know what the flying catbird is." Happy's head poked out of a golden urn, holding a fish. "I'm an Exceed, obviously! Not a cat, or a bird! We're better than both of those things!" He proceeded to cement his claim of superiority by messily eating his fish raw, still halfway stuck in the urn. Lucy raised a brow. She'd heard of Exceeds, but had never seen one in real life. She'd heard that they were supposed to be a wise, secretive race. Not whatever this was. But hey, she also hadn't thought that dragons could take human form either, so what'd she know? Speaking of her captor, he'd picked himself up off the floor and wandered over to the stake still skewered into the ground. She watched as he picked up the end of the chain that had somehow become disconnected in the night and brought it back over to her.

"Lemme see your neck, Lucy!" he proclaimed with a grin, like fettering her to a pole was an honor and a privilege. Her fists tightened, but she was backed up to the bed and knew that to fight him right now was to lose. But she had to ask. "Why was it off?" she asked as offhandedly as she could. He smiled brightly, like the answer was obvious. "I didn't want to get tangled up while we slept! Someone could choke like that! And, ah, sorry to sneak you into bed, by the way. But your shivering was making the chain clink and it was bugging me, so I figured I should warm you up!" Or something like that. Certainly not that he was worried about her comfort. Noticing her thoughtful expression, he waved a hand in front of her face. When that didn't work, he set the hand on fire. _That_ got her attention. "Happy and I are going to the guild today! You can stay here and cook dinner for when we get back." He thought a moment. He should probably give her something to do so she didn't get bored. It'd be fun to rile her up again, but he didn't need Happy on his case about it all day. He loved the Exceed, but he could be damn annoying. He teased Natsu about absolutely everything enough as it was. "And, uh, polish the gold coins. In, um, the first three piles by the door." That should keep her occupied. He'd hate for her to be bored. He turned to go, then, noting Happy was already swooping around in the main cavern and out of earshot, and turned back to murmur into her ear, "Make sure you make the bed especially-you'll be sleeping in it again tonight." Smirking at her furious blush and ignoring her cry of "Pervert!" Natsu strolled out of the cavern into the bright morning light. Then he spread his wings and leapt into the air after Happy.

Back in the cave, Lucy sat lost in thought. So he took off the chain while they were sleeping, huh? That bore looking into. She'd have to see if he'd do it again. But with his sharpened senses, she'd have to plan quite carefully. Sure, the dragon was sexy, and kind in his way. But she hadn't escaped one prison for another. She sighed. With the chain back on there was no hope of getting out today. Although she should find her whip and perfect her plans so that she could seize the chance if it came up. Lucy supposed that meant she should get to work on the tasks he'd left-cooking and polishing. Her nose wrinkled in disgust at the thought, then wrinkled further as she looked at the mess surrounding her. It seemed her distaste at the thought of chores wasn't as strong as the ickyness of living in a pit. With a snort, Lucy rolled up her sleeves and got to work, scheming all the while.

* * *

Wind ruffled Natsu's hair as he swooped down to land in front of a large stone building on the outskirts of town. The sounds of fighting reached his ears a moment before the scent of beer, food, and sweat washed over him. He grinned. This was his favorite place in the world, aside from his hoard. He could get great food here, find adventures to go on, and prove that he was better than his best frenemy, the popsicle princess. Natsu strode across the courtyard, rearing back and kicking the door in with a loud bang. "FIGHT ME!" he roared to no one in particular as he stomped his way up to the bar, blowing smoke rings toward the ceiling for added effect. When no one took him up on his challenge, he pouted for a moment, before realizing that everyone was gathered around something at the bar. Glancing at Happy, he shouldered his way through the crowd to the center of the mass, not being particularly careful of who got knocked aside in the process. Although when his arm clanged against metal, he paused, eyes widening, then turning tail to run back out of the circle before a hand gripped the back of his vest and yanked him back to face the point of a sword at his throat.

"Natsu! You will apologize to myself and others for your rudeness! Now!" Staring up into the one brown eye he could see behind the curtain of red hair, Natsu gulped before muttering "Y-yeah, sorry Erza. I was just reeeallly curious! Didn't, ah, mean to knock into anyone!" The eye narrowed, as if searching for falsehoods, before the blade vanished and he was hauled to his feet. "Very well. Come, then. Look at what arrived in the news today." She pushed him to the center of the circle, where a tiny bluenette held a paper. She looked up and her eyes took on a hungry gleam that he recognized as her nearly obsessive drive for information. "Natsu! Just the mage I wanted to see. You were in Argyle yesterday, right? You probably witnessed this firsthand! Here, read this while I run and use the bathroom and then I want to hear all about it!" A paper landed before him, and for a moment he stared, shocked. It was a picture of his new gift. She was dressed in the gown he'd found her in yesterday, and her hair was all done up in a fancy updo. His gaze drifted up to the headline. _**MISSING ARGYLE PRINCESS-FOUL PLAY OR RUNAWAY?**_

No. Fuckin'. Way.

Pieces started coming together in Natsu's head. So she wasn't meant as a gift, after all. She was a princess. The princess of a place that had been bribing him for years to protect their country. He'd kidnapped a damn princess, just like the stories of dragons always accused his kind of doing. Never mind that he wasn't technically a full dragon-he could turn into one and wield the powers, good 'nuff. But-his nose scrunched-he'd only kind of kidnapped her. She'd clearly come ready with a pack and weapons and everything. Glancing at the headline again, he realized that it was a bit of both. She'd run away, only to run into foul play-him. But why'd she run? According to this, she was a princess; didn't she have the world laid out at her feet? He figured he could worry about that later. For now he had to figure out what to do with the accidentally kidnapped princess he'd left chained in his bedroom. Whoops. He lowered his head to read the rest of the article when Happy landed on his shoulder.

"Hey, Natsu! Mira gave me a huge tuna! Do you think-wait, is tha-mmph!" Natsu grabbed Happy by the face and pulled the Exceed into his chest, muffling the question. "Don't say anything, Happy!" he whispered, "We gotta keep this under wraps for now, ok?" Until he figured out what was going on, no one could know. Especially Erza. He could probably take her in full dragon form, but the transformation took up a ton of energy and always left him mildly disoriented for a bit as he got used to his new form and size. Erza could definitely take him in those first few minutes, and as of yet he hadn't managed to best her in his normal form. Happy blinked up at him and nodded, sensing his urgency. He perched on Natsu's shoulder and together they read the article.

" _Princess Lucy Heartfilia of Argyle vanished in front of a crowd of courtiers yesterday at the traditional ball following the Day of the Dragon's Gift ceremony. She was last seen speaking with her fiance, Prince Tristan of Zinada, a country known for it's bustling sea trade and powerful military. As courtiers watched, the Princess began to flicker, before suddenly vanishing in a glow of light. It is unknown if this was an elaborate kidnapping plot achieved by a transportation spell slipped into her drink, or if the Princess arranged her own disappearance. She is known to be a powerful celestial mage, a rare form of magic allowing its user to summon spirits from another plane. Sources close to the royal family indicate that the Princess was not happy with her upcoming nuptials. As of now, no ransom has been received. King Jude and Prince Tristan have announced their partnership in searching for the Princess, and request that anyone with information please come forward immediately; they shall be rewarded 'handsomely.' For more details on discord in the royal family, see page 2. For rumors of Prince Tristan's murky past, page 3. For recipes for invisibility or transport potions that may have been used, see Polly's Potions on page 7."_

Natsu finished reading the page, scowling. This gave him more questions than answers! Thinking back, he remembered seeing her at the ceremony; at least, he remembered the golden gown catching his eye. But she'd been in his crate the whole time. Perhaps a copy of herself? One of her spirits? He shrugged. More importantly, he wasn't a suspect in her disappearance. It also wasn't likely that they would find her inside his hoard, assuming he and Happy could keep the secret from the guild. And that meant-he could keep her! Spirits raised, Natsu headed over to the mission board, whistling. Might as well take a day trip before heading home to dinner, a la Princess Lucy. Plus, if he kept his head down and got out fast, he could avoid talking to Levy or anyone else about it. He wasn't the best liar in the world and an interrogation would go south fast. Grabbing a monster hunt, he waved it at the record keeper and barmaid, Mira, and slipped out the door.

A pair of eyes followed him across the room. The owner frowned, confusion marring their features. Natsu didn't read papers, and rarely did anything that didn't pertain to fighting, food, Happy, or increasing the size of his hoard. The brat also liked to boast about the holiday practically named after him, but this year it seemed he couldn't wait to escape the guild. The eyes narrowed. Something wasn't quite right here.

* * *

Natsu yawned as he swooped low over the ground, landing in front of the entrance to his hoard. It had been a long day. He'd taken the mission and beaten up one of the ugliest, smelliest monsters he'd ever seen with Happy to get the reward, and had caught and eaten a wild boar around lunchtime. A great day, but he'd had nagging questions lingering in the back of his head about Lucy. Namely, why she'd decided to run away from home, and how that had led to her being in his crate.

Striding into his hoard, carrying a sleeping Happy, he sniffed at the air, grinning. For a spoiled princess she sure knew how to cook! Underneath the mouthwatering aromas, he picked up on something sharper. Cleaning materials? As he made his way past the treasure mounds and entered his home area, he stopped, gobsmacked. The place was _sparkling._ If you'd asked him yesterday, he wouldn't have known what color the floor was. Now it was polished to gleaming, the bed was made, dishes done, pictures straightened...and as he peeked in the bathroom, he saw it also shone. This was weird! Why clean if it was just going to get dirty again? He had to admit it looked nice, though. Natsu mentally patted himself on the back for keeping Lucy. Speaking of, where was she? Peeking back into the main room, he spotted her golden hair almost immediately. She was curled up on top of the covers, snoring gently. Huh. It was pretty late. He placed Happy next to her, before wandering over to the kitchenette and gorging on the food simmering gently over the coals. Belly full, he carefully unhooked her chain and slipped under the covers with her. Something about her breathing was relaxing, he decided. The little snore was kind of cute, even. He'd have to tease her about it tomorrow. And then he'd find out why she'd run away.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, everyone! Not a whole boatload of plot action in this one, but it sets us up for the next round of adventure. Let me know what you think in the reviews and I'll see you next week!**


	6. Escape

**Hello everyone! I have a busy day tomorrow (My first job interview after getting my nursing license! Wish me luck!) so I decided to update a day early to get my mind off my nerves. For everyone who's been asking me to please keep writing-don't worry, I'm finishing up chapter 10 right now and have the story pretty well outlined. Let me know what you think in the reviews!**

* * *

Lucy waited until she was sure they were both asleep to move. Shifting ever so carefully, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and eased herself off the mattress. Natsu mumbled a moment, but she did not pause, continuing her steady pace to the bathroom. Pausing would indicate something suspicious. And after a week of staying in the dragon's nest, she'd perfected a nightly routine designed to throw him off track. She slipped into the bathroom, closing the door silently behind her.

A week ago, she'd escaped a cage. Now she prepared to run once again. While Natsu and Happy were much kinder and more interesting than her father and it was a relief not to have to be a princess, there was no getting around the fact that she was a prisoner and a slave. She spent her days alone, inside, cleaning and polishing and cooking. She hadn't seen the stars nor called her spirits in days. When the boys were back, she was subject to endless teasing. Happy was a jokester and she replied in kind, but Natsu...he was something else entirely. She'd decided that, though he might have a sort of fondness for her, he didn't seem to see her as a person. Not really. More of a puzzle and a game. He seemed to constantly be trying to trip her up and get her to talk about her past and how she'd ended up in the crate. That game she could play, but the sexual innuendos, the smoldering looks, and the not-so-innocent touches were driving her insane. In several ways. It was clear he wouldn't force himself on her, but he was the type to enjoy the chase, almost more than when (If! She reminded herself) she succumbed. No thank you. So after the first night, when she'd realized that he took the chain off while they slept, she'd crafted her plan. The second night she'd heard him come in and quickly pretended to slumber on the bed. Sure enough, he'd removed the chain before snuggling up next to her in the most sinful of cuddles she'd ever imagined (Why did he sleep shirtless? Why?!).

After determining his pattern, she'd created one of her own. Get up after he fell asleep every night and use the bathroom. At first he'd woken up, suspicious. But after a few days, he snored right through her nightly jaunts. She'd waited the better part of a week after that, taking longer and longer in the washroom each night, and now it was going to pay off. She changed into dark traveling clothes and softly opened the door to the main room. Shoes off, she tiptoed through the room and into the hoard. She'd spent her days meant for polishing gold organizing, because, really, how could someone live in that mess?-and now had a pathway free of clutter straight to the outside. She'd practiced traversing it with her eyes closed and was able to make her way to the door without a sound. Near the outer tunnel, behind a tapestry depicting a man attempting to teach trolls ballet, she'd stashed her bag, whip, and keys. Silently slipping them out from behind the cloth, she tiptoed into the entrance tunnel. Now the tricky part. She knew the magic protecting Natsu's hoard would only allow himself and those he'd deemed trustworthy, aka Happy, inside. But would it let her out? And once she got outside, could she avoid the traps she knew salted the area? She'd bribed Happy with fish she'd found in the icebox to tell her as much as he could about the surrounding area, praising him as being Natsu's only confident and a very smart Exceed, besides. He'd happily recounted all the tales of treasure hunters who'd tried to get close and the snares they'd been stuck in once they got within a half mile radius of the place.

Lucy took a breath. She'd come to what appeared to be a barren stretch of rock, but she knew it to be a complex piece of magic that revealed the entrance and allowed access to the cavern. Her chain had allowed her to touch the wall, but take not a step further. However, this was enough for her to experiment. And she'd learned that while it may be impenetrable from the outside in, to escape one need only offer the right sacrifice. The mage pulled out a thin dagger with a jeweled handle. Hesitating for only a moment, she sliced open her left palm, allowing blood to coat the surface of the blade. She leaned the knife point down against the wall and busied herself wrapping the wound with a strip of fabric. As her blood dripped down the iron and into the ground, the wall seemed to fade. After a minute, the dagger fell onto its side-into the space where the wall had once stood. A narrow crevice stood out, dark against the rock. Blood and gold, the only gift worthy of a dragon. A slim volume shoved deep under Natsu's bed, _A Dragon's Concealment,_ had given her a few key pointers. It was clearly Natsu's teacher in setting up and maintaining the spells, although it seemed like a bit much for one young dragon/man to create. Perhaps the elder dragon that used to visit her kingdom had helped? Lucy shook her head, casting off her musings. She stepped into the crevice, knowing she only had until the blood finished soaking into the earth. She hustled through the long, narrow hallway until she saw it. The first glimmer of starlight she'd seen in over a week. As she stepped into the stillness of the night and breathed in the air, Lucy couldn't hold back the tear that slipped down her cheek. Lifting her face to the sky, she gave herself thirty seconds to revel in the joy surging through her, tempered by the sudden peace she felt under the stars, as though all was right in the world. Then she dropped her chin, looking back at the entrance just in time to see the gap in the rock close soundlessly, transformed into what looked like just another large grassy knoll, no hint of the expansive hobbit hole beneath the ground. Facing forward once more, her face hardened. She had to move fast if she wanted to get out of here alive.

She surveyed the ground before her, reaching into a back pocket for the crudely drawn map she'd created based off of Happy's tales and the trap segment in _A Dragon's Concealment._ If she was right, there were at least three dozen scattered in any given direction. Natsu wasn't playing around with protecting what was his. But first things first. Lucy pulled out a silver key and sliced it through the air. "Open, Gate of the Compass! Pyxis!" she whisper-yelled. A poof of silver sparkles and a quiet chime, and the odd, birdlike spirit appeared. "Lucy! You're ok! We couldn't sense you for days!" he hissed softly, eyes welling up with unshed tears. Lucy reached out to pull the spirit into a hug, smiling. "I know, I'm so sorry for worrying you all. But Pyxis, I need your help. We're not out of the woods yet. Can you point North for me?" The bird nodded frantically, then started to spin like a top, until he was just a red and white blur. After a moment he slowed and came to a halt, the compass on his head pointing to the left of the lair. Perfect. She'd decided to go east, hoping that if Natsu woke early and came after her, the blinding rays of the rising sun would make her silhouette harder to distinguish. That should give her an extra hour or so to find shelter. That was assuming she could avoid the traps, of course. With a smile and thanks she sent Pyxis back, then went back to her map, this time marking the directions and orienting herself the right way. If she was right, there would be three pitfalls, two fire bombs, several trip wires, and five traps of some kind meant to ensnare her until Natsu could come pick her up. That probably left another dozen or so she didn't know about. Taking a deep breath, Lucy started off down the hill. Ahead of her was a rocky path leading down to a stream and a large copse of trees. Lucy kept her eyes peeled, and was quickly rewarded with a trip wire. Carefully, she stepped over it before sneaking back down the path. She grabbed a branch off the ground (after looking it over carefully) and used it to tap the ground ahead of her and waved it haphazardly in the air before her. Doing so enabled her to discover two pitfall traps and another tripwire; when she accidentally snagged her stick on it, what appeared to be gobs of webbing from what had to be the biggest arachnoid she'd ever imagined shot in from the right to land exactly where she'd tripped the wire. "Holy shit...don't tell me I have to fight the spider, too!" she breathed, thoroughly unnerved. But it never appeared and she was able to edge her way around the sticky mess and continue on. By now she was out of the rocks and approaching the stream. She eyed it warily, unwilling to step in. She could probably call Aquarius to tell her if anything was in the water, but the point of this exercise was to make it out alive and unharmed. Instead, she pulled out Taurus' key.

"Miss Luuucy! I'm mooooved to see your nice body is safe!" the muscular bovine greeted her.

"Ehhhm….thanks? Look, I need you to toss me across the stream. _Without_ groping me!" Taurus looked over the moon, picking her up by the bridal style and swinging her back and forth, preparing to heave her over the water. He managed to get in one good sniff of her hair, and before she could yell at him, had launched her into the air and vanished. Lucy stifled a squeak as she arced up, and managed a roll as she came down on the other side. Congratulating herself on not breaking anything, she stood, took one step forward...and immediately sprung another trap. A noose tightened around her foot and yanked her into the air. Lucy shrieked as she swung wildly, madly pinwheeling her arms in an attempt to balance herself. Shit! She'd been doing so well! She was so close to the probably half mile boundary line, this was probably one of the last traps he'd set. She forced herself to close her eyes and think, one hand reaching up to grasp her keys hooked onto her belt. Sorting through them by touch, she gripped the one she thought would be of most help.

"Virgo!" A chime and flash later, the pink haired maid stood before her, eyebrows raised. "Princess, you have deceived me. I did not know that you desired punishment, too. I am happy to provide my services," Virgo stated in her monotonous voice, stepping forward.

"No! No no no! I don't want to be punished! Just get me down from here!" Lucy waved her arms frantically, hoping against hope that wasn't a whip she saw hiding behind Virgo's back. She did _not_ need this right now. Virgo sighed, seemingly put out, before diving under the ground. A mound of dirt quickly rose under Lucy until she stood on top of her own miniature hill. Reaching down, she quickly untied her ankle before carefully sliding to the bottom of the rise.

Virgo popped up beside her. "Princess, I have discovered two more traps in the immediate area-two meters straight ahead is a pressure pad connected to a large suspended cage, and fourteen meters ahead and three to the right is a pit leading to a fire ant's nest. If Princess does not need anything else, I respectfully request to hang from the rope so that Princess may punish me."

Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose. "Thank you for the information about the traps, Virgo. You know I'm not going to punish you!" Virgo bowed, before glancing back up at Lucy. "Then if Princess does not mind, may I take some of these back home? They are...intriguing." Lucy sighed gustily. Whatever kept the odd spirit happy, right? As Virgo set off to gather her traps, Lucy avoided the last two snares and stepped into the trees surrounding Natsu's land. Time for phase two.

Pulling out her fourth key of the night, she summoned Horologium to her side. "Carry me as far as you can, as quickly as possible! Sorry to make you be my legs again, but I need to throw the dragon off my scent," she explained. "Of course, my lady!" the old clock exclaimed, throwing his door open. The two set off rapidly, Lucy using the time to get a couple of hours of shut eye in. Who knew when she'd next have a peaceful rest?

Several hours later, Horologium woke her to tell her him time was up before vanishing, leaving her alone at the edge of the forest, her back to the trees. Now she looked out upon a series of hills, far too small to be mountains but large enough to cut her visibility. She frowned. That would be good, but if Natsu gave pursuit he'd still spot her easily from the air. The forest was likely safer, but still too close. She'd have to hope that the sun just now starting to spill its rays across the horizon would allow her to hide in a shadow. He'd probably find her gone soon. Happy had a habit of waking early to demand he be fed and loved. Tch. Cats. Even otherworldly ones were needy. So without further adieu, Lucy set off around the base of the first hill.

* * *

Natsu woke up in a sleepy haze, intent only on using the bathroom and going back to bed for a few more hours of shut eye. After a perfunctory rinsing of hands, he shuffled across the room, dimly noting Happy curled up on one of his more comfortable thrones. He climbed back onto the mattress, reached over to pull Lucy into his arms...and found nothing. Frowning, he swept his around in the covers, and when his fingertips brushed the opposite wall, his tired brain realized: she wasn't in bed.

Instantly Natsu woke fully. Adrenaline coursing through him, he jumped out of bed and began rushing around the room, checking behind chairs and under the table. Not finding her there he ran out into the hoard proper. He called forth his wings and launched himself into the air, using the view to scout every corner at top speed. It was when he finally reached the entrance, after searching the cavern over twice and even poking his nose into his mementos cave, that he saw the dagger and realized what she'd done. She'd...she'd left. Left him and Happy. Snuck away like a thief in the night, taking what was rightfully his! Natsu saw red and his nails bit into his palms as he threw back his head and _roared,_ shaking the ceiling, sending treasure mounds sliding, and waking Happy. The Exceed whizzed around the corner, halting in the air next to his friend.

"She's _gone,_ Happy! She left!" Natsu's chest heaved as he sucked in air. Happy floated just out of range, in case Natsu went up in flames. "Why would she do that, though? She was nice! She cooked me such good fish," whined the Exceed. Natsu looked at the dagger, still coated in Lucy's blood. His eyes narrowed and he reached down to pick up the dagger. "We can ask her her reasons when we find her." He placed a decisive hand on the wall, which reacted to his presence by creating the passage to the outside once more. Side by side, they made their way down the hall, emerging into the morning light. Natsu lifted the blade to his nose, inhaling deeply, then handed it to Happy to carry in his pack while he sniffed at the ground. After a few seconds, he'd caught her scent and begun to follow the trail.

"Man, it's gonna take a while to reset whatever trap she got stuck in! Bet Lucy sure was surprised to see those, huh, Happy?" Natsu spoke lightly as he continued down the hill, masking the tightness of expression and the whiteness of his knuckles as he clenched his fists. Behind him, Happy paled. He was remembering how Lucy had bribed him with fish to tell her about the land around the hoard. At the time, he'd thought it couldn't be any harm, and she'd had this amazing salmon fillet with a soy ginger sauce...on reflection, the cat decided to stay silent and pray Natsu took that for agreement on his part. Hopefully Lucy was indeed stuck somewhere down the hill. But as they uncovered dismantled snare after snare, his hopes sank. Finally, when they reached the river's edge, Natsu snapped.

"What. The. HELL?!" he raged, "Every damn trap we put together on this side of the area is ruined! Half of them are missing, too! What did she do, pack them up and take them with?!" Jaw working angrily, the man jumped across the stream, only to confront an ankle noose resting on an odd pile of dirt. Growling, he punched the pile, reducing it to dust. After both he and Happy finished coughing the soil out of their lungs, he bent to follow her trail once more, only to find it vanished a few meters out. Now he was really angry.

"That's it, Happy! We're splitting up!"

He rolled his shoulders, unfurling his wings. Closing his eyes, he took a moment to think. Clearly the girl was smart, and so far she'd thought of everything. If he were Lucy, what would his next step be? She couldn't know where the closest town was or how far the forest stretched. It was likely she'd wanted to put as much distance as possible between them before he woke up. She'd probably been keeping an eye on his habits-that was good. He'd woken up early this morning. Lucy probably thought she had a couple more hours before she had to hide, which meant she'd probably covered the entirety of the forest and made her way to the valleys on the other side. She'd already taken care of his sense of smell somehow. She was likely quiet enough to avoid him hearing her while he flew. Which meant she had to keep from being seen. Short of invisibility or expert camouflage-a possibility, but invisibility potions were rare and princesses weren't usually skilled woodsmen-what could she use? He squinted into the sun. Of course! He couldn't see shit looking this way. Natsu smirked. On the off chance he was wrong and she did know where the town was, he sent Happy north toward Magnolia before soaring east over the trees.

* * *

Lucy skirted around the edge of yet another hill, expecting to see more mounds in front of her. And she did, but it was what was in front of the nearest one that made her stop and squint into the sun's rays warily. There was a small campfire crackling in the middle of a makeshift camp, and five men sat around it, talking quietly. Before she could decide whether to turn back or see if they could help her, one of the strangers looked up and spotted her. He was tall and broad, with dark hair and weathered features. His face turned down in a frown, and he stood and came towards her. She decided there was little point in turning back now-maybe she could hide amongst their group-and straightened to meet him in the middle of the little valley. She put on her most charming smile.

"Hello, sir! I have to say I'm shocked to see anyone else out here! But so relieved! I'm a little lost; perhaps you gentlemen could point me in the right direction?"

He didn't say anything for a moment, only stared at her, and she swore she saw recognition flit across his features. Lucy couldn't stop herself from nervously fingering her keys. After a moment, he grunted, seemingly done sizing her up.

"We can help...maybe. Gotta know your name first." As he'd stared her down, the other men had slowly risen and now formed a loose semicircle about her. Glancing at one, she saw a paper in his hand. He glanced between her and the paper, and suddenly Lucy realized that she should have run when she'd had the chance. She stopped mindlessly fiddling with her keys and carefully selected one.

"Why do you need my name? It's rude to ask something personal of a lady without offering your own first." She tried to sound coy, pouting a bit and dropping a hand on her hip. The leader looked at her a beat longer before grinning.

"I guess we don't need it all that much. You're the spittin' image of your picture, Princess. And your Daddy's offering up a whole lotta money to whoever can bring you home." Before she could blink, he lunged at her. Lucy jumped back, out of the way. The hand she'd so coquettishly dropped to her hip just a moment before was now perfectly positioned to grab her whip off her hip, and her other hand rose in front of her with her key held out. As the leader stumbled past her, unable to halt his own inertia, she unfurled the whip with a crack and called out "Open, Gate of the Lion! Leo!"

Loke appeared in a flash of light, just in time to punch one of the goons in the face hard enough for Lucy to hear a crack ten feet away. Disgusted as she was by the sound, she didn't have time to be concerned; one guy down meant four more were barely a few steps away. Her scourge reached out, snapping around one thug's waist before Lucy yanked him off his feet into one of his companions. Dimly she sensed a flash of light behind her as Loke blasted another of her attackers off his feet, but her tunnel vision was focused on tangling her two men together with her whip. A second later she got a harsh reminder of why tunnel vision was never a good thing when the leader of the group slammed into her from behind, bringing her to the ground. She scraped her hands and banged her cheek on a rock, then shrieked in pain when he lifted her to her knees by her hair.

"You little bitch! Think you can make me look stupid? I'll show you fucking stupid, you won't have a goddam face left when I'm done with yo-oof!" In an ironic reversal, her tormentor was also swiftly reminded to remain aware in dangerous situations when Loke used Regulus Impact on him at point blank range, sending him a solid twenty feet before he landed in a crumpled heap on the ground. Loke checked to see the all five men were unconscious while tying them up (at least someone was aware and thinking rationally in this fight) before kneeling next to Lucy to carefully check her over for injuries.

"I'm alright, Loke. Thank you for getting him off me." She aimed a crooked smile at her spirit as he dabbed at her bloody cheek with a handkerchief. Her eyes traveled to the ground, where a crumpled piece of paper lay discarded. Mindful of the blood, she picked it up by a corner and put it in her bag to read later, once she'd gotten away from the bandits. As she stood and Loke assisted her to place her bag on her shoulders, however, a rush of wind and heat blew her hair around her face and made her stagger forward several steps. A shadow passed over her before settling on the ground to the east. She shaded her eyes-dammit, she planned this route so that her enemies would have to squint into the sun, not her!-and her heart dropped when she realized who it was. Of course, he had to show up as she was winded and bloody and tired from keeping a Zodiac gate open. But if he thought she'd come back to his lair without a fight, he had another think coming.

"Princess?" asked Loke. "What's the plan?"

Lucy smiled fiercely. "The plan, Loke, is to kick some dragon ass."

* * *

 **Woo! Longest chapter yet! Stay tuned for a Natsu/Lucy showdown this time next week!**


	7. The Hard Way

**Hello everyone! I know post day is usually Thursday but I finished early, so I thought I'd post early. Thanks to everyone that told me good luck on the job interview-in other news, I start my new job next week! Hooray! Enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think.**

* * *

" _The plan, Loke, is to kick some dragon ass."_

Lucy let out a war cry as she rushed at Natsu, pulling out another key as she did so. "Open, Gate of the Twins, Gemini!" The blue spirits appeared in a poof as Natsu launched himself into the air. Damn him, keeping himself between her and the sun and holding the high ground. He hovered over them.

"Lucy! This ends here. You're coming home with me!"

She laughed almost hysterically in his direction, throwing her arms out. "I'm not going anywhere with you, buddy! You see all these guys? I took them out cause they tried to make me go with them, and I'll sure as hell do the same to you!"

Natsu let out a belch of frustrated flame and pointed at her. She had the absurd thought that if he was on solid ground, he'd stomp his foot like a child. "Fine! I was gonna go easy on you, but first you fucked up all my traps and now you're being stubborn. We're doing this the hard way!"

He dove at her and she rolled frantically as Loke sent a blast of light at him. It bowled the dragon over, but he swiftly recovered and moved toward Loke at a speed Lucy barely believed was possible. He'd clearly been toying with her in the cave. But she hadn't had her spirits then, and now she was dressed in clothes she could fight in. She circled the men as they exchanged blows, Loke barely keeping up with Natsu but still managing to get a punch or two in. Then Natsu kicked up, nailing her lion in the chin with a powerful sandal-clad foot. Loke flew ten feet away, vanishing as he fell to the ground. Lucy snarled and didn't waste a moment. As Natsu turned toward her she snapped out her whip, catching him on one ankle and pulling him to the ground. Instead of trying to run as she had in the cave, she kept the whip on his ankle and twisted, using the combined strength of her legs, back, and shoulders to whip him up and around, slamming him into the side of the nearest hill. Then she ran, only to fall as he punched the ground so hard it sent a wave through the earth after her, creating a crevice and tossing her onto the dirt. His foot pressed down on her wrist, stopping her from raising her whip, and she spared a second of surprise at how careful he was not to press harder than he needed to stop her from moving. She looked up, into a pair of blazing green eyes. He was livid. But also...sad? She shook it off. No time to care about her captor's feelings.

He leaned down, spreading his wings in a show of dominance. "I said. You're coming home with me. The easy way or the hard way."

She grinned up at him. "Oh, we'll do this the hard way alright. Now, Sagittarius!"

While they'd been fighting, Gemini had quietly called Sagittarius, who'd covertly galloped to the top of the hill behind the dragon, giving himself a height advantage and getting in between Natsu and the sun's rays. At Lucy's shout, he released the arrow he'd notched, sending it soaring through the crisp morning air, to embed itself in Natsu's wing. Natsu roared in earsplitting agony, falling forward to straddle Lucy. She squirmed under him and slammed one knee upward, directly in between his legs. His eyes bugged out and his roar became more of a squeal before he slumped forward on top of her in a pain-induced faint. She dismissed her spirits and wriggled out from underneath him. She felt a little bad about the shot to the gonads, but she had to face facts-he was stronger than her. To fight him fairly was to lose. And if her father had stressed any of her lessons, it was to win by whatever means necessary. Maybe not the best philosophy, but right now she was going to stick to it. Taking a page out of Loke's book, she decided to tie him up before he woke. She grimaced as she got a good look at his wing.

"Ugh, that looks awful," she mused, biting her lip, "I guess I'll have to clean it up after restraining him...can't let him bleed out." Pulling out some leather thongs Virgo had insisted she take, she used them to bind his hands together in front of him. Now that she deemed him 'not a threat,' she pulled her medical kit out of her bag. The arrow had pierced cleanly through the wing, not hitting any major blood vessels or nerves, only punching through the muscle. Leave it to Sagittarius to make a fantastic shot like that! She was reaching for the arrow when his eye cracked open and he groaned.

"Wha...What the hell? Your horse dude shot me! Oh god, it hurts.." he moaned, bringing his hands up to his face, smearing blood into his already pink hair. "Why would you shootme and _kick me in the balls?_ I haven't done anything to you!" Furious now, he was about to burn his restraints off (who tied up a fire dragon with something flammable?) and put her in an arm lock, but Lucy snarled at him, clenching her fists.

"Haven't done anything to me?! Are you serious?! You've held me captive for a week! You stick me inside with no glimpse of the stars to cook for you and clean your stupid gold! You _chained_ me to a _stake._ I'm not a person to you, just someone to pick up after you and for you to torment when you're bored! Feel lucky I just had my spirit shoot you in the wing and not the head; you certainly don't deserve medical care. But I'm a decent human being, so shut up and let me patch you up before I get the hell out of Dodge!" she snarled at him.

Natsu sat perfectly still as she went back to poking his wound. He was frozen, paralyzed by the new reality she'd just thrown in his face. He'd been so excited about her appearance and wrapped up in his own wants that he hadn't even thought about her. After discovering her status as runaway princess, he'd become consumed with the desire to find out why she'd run. The more she'd refused to tell him, the more fun he'd had making her blush and squirm and evade his pointed questions. He'd been so caught up with _him,_ he'd not once thought about _her._ Glancing at Lucy from the corner of his eye, he saw that her eyes glittered with unshed tears and she was breathing heavily. It caused an unfamiliar emotion to prick at his innards-shame. And guilt. Thinking about it, he had to admit that he might've been a bit of an ass. Maybe more than a bit. And here she was pulling an arrow out of him anyway. An arrow that she wouldn't've ever put there if it weren't for his behavior. Sneaking another glance, he had to admit that even upset and covered in his blood, she was very pretty. With that thought came another push of greed, of wanting to keep her as part of his hoard. The shame immediately doubled. God, he really was a piece of shit. But if he'd learned anything over the week, it was that he didn't want her to walk away.

The first day after she'd arrived, he'd come back from a job to find his living quarters literally sparkling clean. Within three days he'd noted it was significantly easier to walk around-was she organizing everything? By the end of the week, he was sure he'd never eaten better nor had such a good time. Sure, he and Happy had always enjoyed themselves, but he was starting to look forward to coming home. He liked making her flustered and her giggles were like music. Sure, she'd kept mum about her past but he'd been sure she was about to open up to him. It was part of the fun! And it certainly helped that she was smoking hot; he'd wanted her the moment he'd laid eyes on her. Setting her on edge had just added to his enjoyment and he'd thought she'd been responding positively to his advances. But now, Natsu had to face the realization that he'd been beyond selfish. He'd not thought about Lucy's experience in any of this. She was totally right. She wasn't an object to keep and play with.

But that didn't mean he wanted to let her go. How could he reconcile his desires with her needs?

A minute later, Lucy finished the last stitch in his wing. Barely suppressing a yawn, she wet a cloth with some water from her canteen and wiped the blood away from the wound. God, she was tired. She'd barely gotten any sleep last night and she couldn't say much for the previous week, either. Not to mention the fair few spirits she'd pulled out of her hat. Packing her things away, she jumped when Natsu spoke.

"What about your injuries?"

She looked down at her scrapes. She'd nearly forgotten about them with the fight with him. "I, eh, I'm out of cloth. They'll have to wait." Like hell she was ripping up her clothes to use. You didn't destroy fashion for a skinned knee. He harrumphed, not happy with her answer. Calling forth one claw, he carefully tore his shirt down the middle and allowed it to drop into his hands without touching his wings. He didn't think he'd be able to retract them until the stitches came out. Seeing him shirtless, Lucy squeaked.

"What are you doing?"

He eyed her with amusement. "It's not like I can get this off without pulling my wings in, and it's kinda ruined anyway." She supposed it was, with blood soaked into the back of it. He shredded it into rags, tossing the sanguine half to the ground. The clean(ish) parts of the former shirt he dampened with Lucy's canteen, emptying it. He gripped her hand gently by the wrist and carefully started cleaning the dirt off her scraped hands. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but she said nothing. After cleaning and wrapping one hand and starting the other, Natsu muttered, so low she almost couldn't catch it.

"I'm sorry."

She looked at him in surprise. Before she could say anything he continued on. "You were right, everything I did was shitty. I just...kinda thought you came with the gift, y'know? And then I found out who you were and wanted to find out why you left home; that's why I've been dropping hints and bugging you about your past and stuff. Plus, I dunno, I guess I just liked having you around. But I shouldn't've treated you like that." He was blushing, entirely shamefaced as he dabbed at her wrist. Lucy stared, trying to sort through her myriad of emotions. One thing he'd said stuck out at her.

"Wait, you knew who I was? How?"

"You've been in all the newspapers. Pictures and conspiracies and everything. I don't usually read much, but I looked at those articles. If your dad's really making you marry that guy, then I can see why you ran."

"Oh...yeah. He was. Trying to marry me off, I mean. I guess if it'd been a nice guy more my age that would've been ok, but Prince Tristan is, well, not nice. By anyone's standards. I never wanted to be a princess anyway, but that was too much. It's-gah, why am I even talking to you about this?" She huffed in annoyance. There was something about him that just made it easy to open up. It pissed her off. He held in a chuckle at her face, nose scrunched up in annoyance and eyes rolled heavenward. Reaching out, he used two fingers to turn her chin toward him, holding up the last shirt-turned-washcloth strip when she shot him a scandalized look. Working to gently clean the cut, he murmured to her. "You should know, there's nothing in any direction for at least another eight hour walk. I chose this area because it was remote. You're out of water and medical supplies. If you come back with me, I'll fly you out to town once my wing heals up. No funny business. I'll swear to it in blood if it makes you feel better."

She looked at him, suspicion evident in her narrowed eyes. He tried to look as nonthreatening as possible, meekly dabbing at her cheek. Her face was very close, he noted. He could count the freckles on her delicate nose. She observed him for a moment more and then nodded once.

"Fine. But I want to be able to go outside. And you're going to bring me something to cook aside from meat and potatoes. And you're going to give my spirits permission to be in the hoard if I call."

He objected to the last one. "Your spirits? But what if they steal from me? I can't just let people in all the time!"

"Well then _I'll_ countersign the contract so that they won't! Not that they would anyway, beings that run on contracts are a very trustworthy bunch, you know! Not like greedy dragons."

Natsu ignored the jab-he figured he deserved that one-and grunted. "Fine. You wanna make that contract right now?"

Lucy glanced around at the unconscious bodies still littering the area. "Umm, probably not. They might wake up. What should we do with them anyway?" Internally rejoicing at her use of "we," Natsu smiled as he replied, "When we get back I'll contact the magic council. They'll pick these guys up. If you're ready we should start heading back. It's a long walk if you can't fly."

She nodded and turned to grab her bag, but he was already swinging it onto his uninjured shoulder and heading back to the forest. She hurried to catch up, and they walked side by side through the hills. The silence stretched, awkward, until Natsu turned to Lucy.

"So….what's your favorite color?"

* * *

Three hours later the exhausted duo reached Natsu's hoard. Once he'd broken the ice, the walk had become significantly less awkward, the two getting a chance to get to know one another as equals for the first time. When they reached the stream at the edge of his booby-trapped ground, Lucy had demanded his oath in blood to treat her as a free person and to fly her to town as soon as he was able. He'd done it on the condition that neither she nor her spirits steal anything from his hoard or tell anyone its location. Post blood-oaths, she'd relaxed further, enough to joke lightly with him about the ruined traps. Natsu could tell she didn't really trust him though. He didn't blame her. Privately, he determined to make it up to her as soon as possible. Starting with finding out what was up with those thugs she'd been fighting when he showed up. He'd been impressed at how well she'd clearly handled the men. Hell, he'd been even more impressed with her skills during their spat. No one had gotten the drop on him like that in awhile; clearly, he'd underestimated her if he'd ignored her spirit running off like that while he'd been focused on her. But if he'd dragged her back kicking and screaming, then she wouldn't have opened up even a little bit, right? That would've been one more asshole move on his part that she didn't deserve. Ultimately, he supposed taking a hit was worth it if it forced him to acknowledge his own actions and create a truce between them. The hit to his nuts was a bit much, though. He was still sore. But back to the thugs.

"Lucy...those guys. They were sent by your father, yeah? How did they know to come here?"

She frowned at him. "I've been thinking about that, too. Even if they guessed that I'd been with you, how would they know where your hoard was?" He shuffled his feet a bit. "Well, a fair number of people know the general area it's in...when I first showed up here I made a bit of a ruckus declaring it my land, and there's always people getting stuck in traps. So I get a lot of dumb treasure hunters near here. No one's ever come close to actually locating it, though. I'm pretty surprised you got out, to be honest."

She hummed in understanding. "So there's probably a lot of different ideas on how I got out of my country and where I went. Although now that they've seen me, more will come. You'll have to fly me out as soon as possible; I don't want you and Happy to be in danger because I'm here." He frowned lightly. "Now hold up; we don't know that they'll tell anyone. You said they mentioned money, right? If they tell anyone, they risk losing the reward. How much d'you think it is, anyway?" She gasped, pulling her backpack in front of her to dig around inside it. "I forgot! They had a flyer."

Smoothing it out, they stopped and bent their heads together over the paper.

 _2,000,000 Jewels_

 _And_

 _3 Gate Keys of Choice_

 _For the Return of_

 _Princess Lucy Heartfilia_

 _Heir to the Argyle Throne_

 _Must be delivered Unharmed and Unsullied_

Below the words was a picture of Lucy in one of her regal gowns. Underneath that in smaller print was a listing of each of her keys with a small description of the spirit attached to it. Natsu noted Lucy's hands shaking. Looking up at her face, he saw she was red with fury.

"My keys? _My keys?_ I knew he would offer a reward for me, but to give them away?! Is he FUCKING kidding me?" She ripped the paper in two, then in four, then eight, then tore each piece until all she had was a handful of confetti, which she proceeded to throw violently on the ground and stomp on. "You! Absolute! Monster! Give them away! And not even all of them! Too cheap for that! You'll sell the others to turn a profit, just like you'll sell me! Returned 'unsullied!' What a load of steaming horseshit! Arrrrrgh!" She slumped to the ground, leaning back against boulder, unknowingly tripping a silent alarm. Natsu hastily caught the giant scorpion that scuttled around the side of the rock and flung it a half acre away before she could see it. Looks like she hadn't set that trap off earlier-just one more to fix, he supposed. Gingerly, he lowered himself down next to her. Truth to be told, that ad had his blood boiling-how could someone treat someone else that way, especially their own family? It boggled his mind, and made him even more ashamed of himself for the past week. He'd been just as bad, trapping her in his cave without her spirits. Taking a deep breath, he looked over at Lucy.

"Don't worry, Luce. Dragons are possessive, right? If anyone's getting those jewels and keys, it's gonna be me." He winked so she'd know he was kidding. "But if you left, I wouldn't get to eat your cooking anymore and Happy wouldn't get as many tummy rubs, so we'll run off the mercenaries for yah. Not that you need the help, but, y'know, we like the exercise." He grinned cheekily at her, making light of the situation. She stared at him, and slowly he saw her shoulders relax until finally she cracked a smile. "Luce?" she queried, raising a brow. He shrugged. "I like it. Now come on. Let's go home." Hopping to his feet, he offered a hand. She took it and let him pull her up and lead her back to the hoard.

* * *

 **And there it is! A lot of people have been bothered by Natsu keeping Lucy as his, everyone can rejoice that that is no longer the case! Up next week: how will they negotiate their new relationship? What happens when Natsu's wing heals up and it's time to fly Lucy to town? Will the thugs return? We'll find out next Thursday!**


	8. The Outside

**Hello friends! Welcome to the next installment of Dragon's Slave! A wee bit of filler, but some fluff and *gasp* intrigue! WARNING: there is violence at the end of the chapter. Not the "Lucy and Natsu are fighting, what fun!" kind, the ugly type.**

* * *

The door to the cavern had barely sealed itself shut behind the two tired mages when a flying blur of blue slammed itself into Lucy's chest. "YOU'RE BACK!" the blur shouted, "YOU FOUND HER, NATSU! SHE'S OK!" The blur resolved itself into a crying Happy as he clung to Lucy's shirt. She wrapped her arms around him, touched.

"I'm sorry I worried you, Happy. I, umm…" she stopped. Obviously Happy had a very different view of the last week than she and Natsu did. But apparently he was only 6, and how did one tell a child that his new friend was not out for a stroll, but escaping bondage and battling his foster parent? Thankfully, Natsu stepped in. "I did a few things that upset Lucy, and we needed to, em, talk things out. Everything's ok now though, little buddy."

Happy looked up, adorable eyes watering. "It is? Natsu was soooo upset when he found out you were gone, Lucy. I thought he was going to cry!" That caused her to raise a brow at Natsu, who flushed. "Besides, if Lucy's gone, no one would make me fish! But if I keep eating Lucy's fish, I'll weigh as much as she does!"

The princess's goodwill vanished and she punted Happy across a treasure mound. "Stupid cat! I'm all muscle!" She pulled out her whip and started climbing up the mound, where Happy floated at the top making faces and flicking gold coins at her. Natsu chuckled as he watched her and Happy trade insults. He couldn't help his gaze flitting down to her chest-she definitely wasn't _all_ muscle. Swallowing, he averted his eyes. He'd been enough of a dick this week already; trying to lure her into his bed was definitely a no-no. Not that his seduction had worked this week, anyway. A voice whispered that maybe now that they'd formed a truce, they could get closer, maybe she would come to him. He stepped on the voice, firmly squashing it. He was _not_ going to be an underhanded ass. He was going to respectfully gain her trust and friendship and make up for his wrong. No seduction allowed. No matter how sexy she looked, swinging her whip at Happy. She could swing it at _him_ any day...dammit! Shaking his head to clear it, he quickly followed them into the living area, only to be pulled up short by yet another reminder of "The-Week-Natsu-Was-A-Douche-Canoe."

He watched Lucy awkwardly skirt around the stake and chain still stuck in the ground. She was looking at him warily out of the corner of her eye, and her hand was rested casually next to her keys. He winced. It was clear she didn't fully trust him, despite the blood oath. He didn't blame her. The oath only held you to the letter of your word. Loopholes were doable. So in an effort to demonstrate good faith, Natsu stepped forward, yanked the stake out of the ground by brute force, and threw it like a spear as far as he could. As he watched it sail out of sight behind a pile of gemstones (one of his sparkliest piles, he was very proud of that one, he should point that out to Lucy) he neglected to watch the chain and collar. On its way past, the collar clipped his ankle, effectively yanking his leg out from under him and sending him straight onto his ass and then back onto his injured wing. It left him too winded to groan in dismay, but as he took a breath he heard a giggle and decided maybe making a complete fool of himself wasn't the worst thing in the world.

Lucy turned away, laughing. He was so cute, red faced and flat on his back. She wanted to go check on him, but then she might -ahem- make absolutely sure he was ok. In every way. And jumping the dragon who'd kept her in captivity for a week and spent half of it shamelessly attempting to seduce her seemed like a bad idea. Hell, he'd almost gotten her into his bed willingly. In any case, she wasn't planning on trusting him until he got her to town. But they could be friendly. Just not _too_ friendly.

"I'll make dinner," she said, starting to pull down pots and pans. He hefted himself off the floor, frowning. "No, Luce, let me. I owe it to you." He moved forward to help, but she shooed him away. "No, Happy told me enough horror stories about your cooking. You can go gather something green to add, though. It's not good for you to just live off of meat and potatoes!" While he slouched off, muttering something about "badass dragons eat what they want" she started chopping the aforementioned potatoes. Once she was sure he was gone, she pulled out Leo's key. If she wasn't able to call the spirit, she wanted to get out of the hoard and run now, and if he was available she didn't need him Regulus-ing Natsu into the wall on sight. To her immense relief, Loke appeared without hassle.

"Lucy! You're alright! You-holy shit, where _are_ we?" He gaped at the mountains of gold twinkling at him. "Princess, don't tell me we're in the dragon's hoard." She nodded. He cursed. "You've got one minute to tell me why I shouldn't cart you off over my shoulder and bring this place down on the way out."

She took a deep breath, then fixed her mutinous spirit with a steely look. "One, because I'd send you back before you had the chance. Two, because there's nowhere to go for miles around, but apparently plenty of mercenaries being paid by my father. And three, because Natsu swore a blood oath that he'll take me to town once his wing heals up and let me call my spirits inside the hoard. So we're staying here for the next few days." Loke didn't look happy about it, but nodded grudgingly.

"So Jude and Tristan have sent men, and they appear to know where you are?" She frowned. "They do now, it would seem. That is, assuming the men report it. They may keep quiet in the hopes that they can post bond, get away from the Rune Knights, and come back to collect me for themselves. We'll have to hope, anyway. Natsu estimates that he'll be able to fly in three days, and he said he'd take me to the local guild. Figured it'd be a good place to get my bearings, anyway. I guess it's called Fairy Tail; weird name, huh?"

Loke nodded, a hint of a smile gracing his features. "I've heard of them...I think they'll be happy to help you, Princess. But for now, you're right. Focus on gaining strength this week, and call any of us if you need anything. We've all been worried." She nodded, and he vanished with a twinkle of light, leaving Lucy to her potatoes.

Dinner was less awkward than she'd anticipated, with both Natsu and Happy asking more questions about her day to day life as a princess, allowing her to chat about her life without delving too deeply into things that caused her pain. She expanded on her hopes for her country, and her pride that they'd become one of the best trading countries in Earthland. In return, they told her about their routines. She learned that they were part of the Fairy Tail guild and took on jobs-obviously they didn't need the money, but they looked for new places, adventures, and rewards to add to the collection-and usually were there 3-6 days a week to socialize. The stories of their antics had her laughing until she cried. After dinner, Natsu made a mess trying to help her clean up, while Happy floating around 'directing.' Although she was still wary, Lucy had to admit this was a lot more fun than she'd ever had in the palace. She was getting excited to go to town and meet this Fairy Tail guild. She was so lost in thought thinking about it, she didn't notice Natsu sidle up to her until he tapped her shoulder, making her jump.

"So, erm, you said you wanted to see the stars, right? It's pretty nice out tonight, let me show you the courtyard." Intrigued, she followed him to the entrance tunnel, only to turn into a hidden side channel in the rock. Happy remained inside, looking through his own little hoard of carefully collected fish skeletons. After twisting through the rock for a few yards, Natsu ducked under an overhang, pulled aside a hanging vine, and Lucy found herself in one of the most beautiful places she'd ever seen. She'd assumed the hillock housing the hoard was one hollowed out mound filled with gold, but she was starting to learn that it was more of a cave system. The largest cave housed the treasure, with smaller offshoots. It seemed that a larger, secondary cavern had at some point crumbled inward, leaving a large bowl open to the sky. She could see where larger boulders had been pushed to the side, and given dragon strength, she imagined most of the debris had been flown out. Now, fed by the sun and rain, it was a lush garden. A small spring bubbled in the center and she saw steam rise from its surface, promising a luxurious soak. Everywhere bloomed flowers, and a strand of aspen trees covered a quarter of the space. Fireflies flitted across the bowl. But what really entranced Lucy were the stars. In her home country she'd nearly always been in the city, surrounded by light. Only rarely did the court escape to the country, allowing her proper stargazing. Even then, she was never alone. But out here, surrounded by nothing for miles, the night sky was spectacular. She gasped, entranced.

"I'm sorry I didn't bring you out here earlier. You could've called your spirits from here, and that worried me. But, um, we're truced now, and I thought you'd like it, so…" Natsu trailed off when she smiled at him.

"It's alright. I'm here now. I've never seen the stars so clearly, thank you."

He grinned, then loped down to the water. "C'mon, Luce! Come in for a dip! The hot spring is amazing." He plunged into the water, submerging himself fully before standing waist deep. Lucy eyed him as he stood, head flung back to look up at the sky, wings extended out fully to help them dry. He hadn't been able to wear a shirt because his injury didn't allow his wings to retract, so his chest and abs were fully on display. _Hot damn._ The moon sparkled off water dripping down him and the fireflies dancing around created a beautiful backdrop. She tore her eyes off him to look back up at the stars. " _Bad Lucy! Leave the pretty dragon alone! Good looks doesn't equal a good idea!"_ The springs did sound amazing, though, so she pattered down into the heart of the bowl and dipped a toe in the water. Seeing that Natsu still faced away, she peeled off her shirt and shorts and submerged. She couldn't help the moan that left her throat as she slipped into the water completely, although with her eyes closed she missed Natsu stiffening slightly. Slowly he sat back along the edge of the pool, wings tucked close along his back. Without really meaning too, his half form fully emerged. Scales sprinkled his face and body, his horns poked through his messy hair towards the sky, and his tail swished lightly through the water before teasingly tickling one of Lucy's feet. She opened her eyes and flashed him a smile, tugging her leg away. "Let's just stay here awhile, shall we? Tell me more about Fairy Tail." He grinned back and launched into a tale involving beating the Ice Princess in both magical prowess, good looks, and eating ability.

* * *

Far away from the warm pool and its relaxed occupants, the stars shone down upon another couple. Unlike the serene setting in the dragon's home, this was an ugly display. An opulently decorated bedchamber was softly lit, leaving much of the room in deep shadows. Blood flecked the floor tiles, and a lump curled in the corner sobbed softly. "Oh, shut up!" snarled a second voice, and a new shadow kicked violently at the first. "You have nothing to cry about. You get to spend a night with a prince." The second shadow walked across the room into the lamplight, revealing Prince Tristan of Zinada, ally to King Jude and fiance to Lucy. He picked up a wineglass filled with ruby liquid and swirled it before taking a deep drink. He sat back in a richly upholstered chair before throwing a sharp glance at the corner. "Come here, girl. I need more wine."

The shadow crawled forward, revealing what an hour ago had been a confident, lovely young woman. A high-priced escort, she was used to attending guests of the king. She was not used to this. Bruises were taking form up and down her body, to go with a black eye and a trickle of blood that still sluggishly bled from her nose. But still, she pulled herself to her feet and staggered over to the prince. She was aware that her life was at stake, and her hands barely trembled as she poured the wine and knelt back by his feet, knowing instinctively that was where he wanted her. She kept her eyes on the floor. Hopefully he would tire of her soon and she could leave, crawl into a hole somewhere to hide. But it seemed that the sex and the beating and the wine had galvanized him to talk, and so she sat perfectly still and listened.

"Mmmm. If anyone has anything to cry about, it's me. Without a fiancee, how am I to gain a wife? And without a wife, I cannot be crown prince. And if I am not crown prince, then how is King Jude having an unfortunate accident supposed to lead to me being king in his place?" She remained as still as possible as shock went through her system. Her head remained lowered and her face was still. "Annoying though it is, I need Lucy back where she belongs-with me. Although I wouldn't mind plowing her for a son!" He laughed at his own crudeness and took another gulp of wine. "Good news though, I think we may have found her. One of my spies in the Rune Knights of Fiore messaged me. Some mercenaries were brought in-got a call to pick em up from that damn dragon that comes here every year. Odd thing is, they didn't have any burns or anything, and all their stories were a little different. He waited til he had the chance and...questioned...them further. Sounds like the girl was there. I'll have to send him a reward; perhaps I'll give you to him?" She shuddered, knowing if he wanted to kidnap her and sell her into slavery, he could. Feeling his eyes on her, she mustered, "I-I'm sure he would pale in comparison to you, Your Grace." He chuckled. "Who doesn't? But I suppose I'll have to send out some of my men to look into it. The dragon has a helluva setup out there, but I hear he visits his friends fairly often. Looks like they'll be going to the guild out there."

Suddenly the prince leaned forward and gripped her disheveled hair, dragging her toward him and forcing her to look him in the face. "I enjoyed the chat, love. But you can't be mentioning it to anyone, understand. Of course you do. Good girl." His other hand reached out to brush her cheek, then down to tweak one nipple painfully. "If I hear a word of this gets out, I'll give you to my men before cutting you to pieces. Slowly. Don't think you can run, and don't think Jude will protect you. A Prince comes before some consort. The only real reason you get to live tonight is that I'm feeling lazy and generous. Besides-no one is going to believe you and I might want you to visit me again. So get your pretty little ass to a healer, and be back at court smiling like the whore you are tomorrow. Understood?" She nodded as well she could with her head held in his vice-like grip, looking into the drunken eyes of a madman. "Good." He threw her away from him. "Now get out."

She grabbed her clothes and stumbled into the antechamber, pulling them on as hastily as she could, given her injuries. Then she pulled her cloak up over her face and limped off to find a healer, praying all the while that Princess Lucy remained hidden.

* * *

 **Hooray! Another chapter down! Hope everyone enjoyed-the next chapter ended up being like three times as long as all of the previous ones, so you're all in for a treat next week. Drop me a line to let me know what you think, and hope you enjoyed!**


	9. Meet the Guild

**Hello again, everyone! This is the longest chapter thus far, and hopefully subsequent chapters will be as well. Enjoy!**

* * *

Lucy screamed as she fell through the air, arms pinwheeling, desperately trying to get to her keys, though none of her spirits could help. The ground rushed up to meet her. This was it. She was going to die.

And then Natsu swooped in, grabbing her underneath her arms and gliding back up into the sky. He was howling with laughter. "Gotcha, Luce! You thought I dropped you! Oh, god, the look on your face!" The air rang with peals of laughter, mixed with Lucy's furious, curse-filled tirade against the dragon. Oh, just wait til they got to the ground! She was going to kill him!

Natsu tossed her up a bit higher, simultaneously folding in his wings to dip below her. Before she could draw breath to shriek in terror, he'd caught her up bridal style and pulled her in close to shelter her from the wind. "C'mon, Luce. You didn't really think I'd let you drop, did you? I'll protect you." He murmured into her ear, carrying them both effortlessly over the earth. She flushed. "Idiot! Don't ever do something like that again!" Resolutely she turned her face away from him, though she wasn't too proud to sling her arms around his neck-in case he tried anything else funny, of course.

It had been several days since their fight in the hills, and Natsu's wing had healed enough to get them to Fairy Tail. He wouldn't be doing any fancy aerial tricks for a week or so, but his strength had returned and he could finally retract his wings. Thank god. Sleeping on his stomach had been annoying as all get out, especially the first night after their dip in the springs. When faced with the realization that there was only one bed in the hoard and that she'd been sleeping with him under duress for the last week, he'd offered to take the floor in the larger cavern. She'd agreed with palpable relief and Natsu couldn't deny that, uncomfortable as the floor sounded, he couldn't be entirely sure he wouldn't do something he'd regret later if her were to sleep next to her inviting warmth. Especially after seeing her stand up from the springs, clothes plastered to her skin, water streaming down her curves. So he'd stacked some gold bars up, melted them into a slab, threw a tapestry on top, and voila! Two beds. Genius. It had been so uncomfortable that he hadn't gotten to sleep til dawn, and when Lucy saw the bags under his eyes she decreed that they would share, but only if he slept with his head at the foot of the bed and they made something she'd called a 'pillow wall.' That was better, but waking up every day with their legs entangled had been a bit awkward. Turned out that pillows made for a poor wall.

Back in the present, Natsu's sharp eyes picked out the guild from the general hustle and bustle of Magnolia, and he made a gentle dive toward the door. No reason for Lucy to be screaming when they arrived.

As he deposited them in the courtyard, Lucy looked around with interest. Natsu and Happy had been talking about the place non-stop for days. The courtyard they were in now had a wide open, cobblestone square bordered with flowerbeds. Along one wall was what looked like a little tourist shop, currently closed. Straight ahead were two large, beautiful wooden doors. Her overall impression was one of stately, understated power. Then Natsu kicked open the doors with his foot, and that opinion was smashed to tiny little pieces. As she would have been if she didn't throw herself to the ground as a table sailed through the space where she'd been only seconds before. Her eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets as she stared at the madhouse in front of her. A dark haired boy with a bazooka made out of ice roared profanities as he shot projectiles across the room. As she watched, a huge white haired guy tackled him to the ground, only to be pulled off and thrown across the room by a man with long black hair and more studs than skin on his face. Natsu raced into the fray, plowing through three more tussling members to get to the first dark haired guy, his arms and head on fire. Her shock intensified as a barrel smashed to the floor, smelling potently of alcohol, and a woman in a bikini top stormed into the melee, throwing cards like ninja stars, screaming about wasting booze. It seemed the best thing to do was hide, so she crawled under a mercifully unmoved table and curled herself into a ball.

A hand tapped her on the shoulder and Lucy jumped and slammed her head into the table. Cursing, she spun around to be confronted by a tiny bluenette wearing an orange dress and an infectious smile. "Hello! I'm Levy! You must be new here. Obviously you've got a knack for finding a good hiding spot when they really get going though." She gestured to the chaos around them and giggled. "Don't worry. Erza is about to break it up." Sure enough, when Lucy looked back at the brawl a red-headed woman was making quick work of the fighters with what had to be the biggest hammer Lucy had ever seen in her life. When everyone was lying groaning on the floor and the action was over, the woman's weapon disappeared in a shower of light and she settled herself at the bar with a large slice of cake as though she did this daily. Levy started wriggling her way out from under their cover, grinning back at Lucy. "Come on! It's safe to come out, now!"

Warily, Lucy poked her head out, then slowly crept into the main area of the room. The guild members had dispersed back to various parts of the room, talking animatedly. Natsu staggered over to her, clearly rather worse for wear. But he straightened up as he got to her and grabbed her hand with his usual energy. "C'mon, Luce! We gotta talk to Gramps if you want to get anything done." He pulled her to the back of the room, ignoring her remonstrations for fighting while still healing and burst through a door without knocking. As it swung shut behind them, all talk ceased. The silence was broken by Cana jumping up on the bar counter.

"Place your bets now, everyone! Who's the hottie, how'd she end up with Natsu, and exactly how _friendly_ have they gotten?" She and her betting record were immediately swarmed.

Meanwhile, Lucy found herself staring down at the smallest old man she'd ever seen. He was wearing what looked like an orange jester hat and was surrounded by mountains of paperwork. His pen was paused over a sheet, and he was looking at them with a gaze that seemed to pierce directly into Lucy's soul. He put down his pen and folded his hands.

"Natsu, before you start in on whatever story you've concocted to stay out of trouble this time, tell me...why have you brought the missing Princess of Argyle to my office today?"

Lucy squeaked in sudden terror. He knew! Before they'd left they'd decided that they would pretend she was a new friend of Natsu's he'd made on his travels who was interested in joining Fairy Tail. The more she'd heard about the guild, the more interested Lucy had become in possibly forging a new life there and taking jobs for money the way Natsu did. Today had been a test of sorts. But now in less than a minute this guy already had her identity pegged? Shit. Maybe a rural town was in her best interests. She tuned back into what Natsu was saying.

"...and so then she shot me through the wing with this awesome horse guy and yelled at me, and now we're hoping she can join Fairy Tail and stay hidden from her dad, cause he's an asshole, and, uh, Gramps?"

The man had put his head in his hands, muttering. He parted his fingers enough to glare at Natsu, and then without warning a hand the size of the desk slammed Natsu into the floor. Lucy gaped, realizing that the wizened tiny man in front of her had grown his limb to monstrous proportions in the time it took to blink. He jumped onto the desk.

"Natsu! You absolute _idiot!_ You kidnapped a princess because you thought she was a present?! And even after you found out she wasn't, you kept her in captivity _anyway?!_ You moron! No wonder I saw you reading the paper about her! You're lucky she's tenacious and charitable enough to both punish and forgive you, because otherwise I would sic Erza on you! I still might!" He glared down at the cowed fire mage before transferring his gaze to Lucy.

"I apologize, Princess. My name is Makarov Dreyer, guildmaster of Fairy Tail. This brat is an idiot, but I see you already know that." A twinkle in his eye allowed her to relax enough to smile at him.

"Please, call me Lucy. I believe I renounced my claim to the throne when I left my country behind," she said lightly.

Makarov sat back down, although he kept his hand on Natsu, squashing him firmly into the floor. "I see. So you wish to join Fairy Tail? Or is that something this brat is pushing you into? He can be quite forceful when he wants something."

Boy, did she know that already. "I am interested. And lucky for Natsu, I can be forceful as well." A "hmph!" came from the floor under Makarov's fist, but they both ignored it. "But," she continued, "I don't wish to be a burden. I might have been royalty but I can work for a living, same as everyone else."

The master smiled. "No member of Fairy Tail is a burden, Lucy. Once you join us, you are family. And we have enough jobs that come in that you'll be able to find work that suits you. We will also keep your secret as well as we are able, although you may want to disguise yourself somewhat while the manhunt is on. So, what do you say? Would you like to become one of us?"

Lucy blinked a bit rapidly. _A family..._ how long had it been since she'd had one of those? She saw her spirits as her closest and most trusted companions, but they could only be in her world for so long. What would it be like to have friends? Not trusting herself to speak, she nodded at Makarov. He laughed. "Wonderful! We'll take you downstairs and introduce you! But," he added, turning serious, "this is a dangerous time for you, Lucy. People will continue to search for you. We'll have to talk about ways to keep you safe. Right now the world thinks you've been kidnapped. Perhaps a public letter stating your safety and abdicating your throne would be appropriate." He brightened again. "But! You and I will discuss that tomorrow, I think. Now is a time to celebrate!" He finally retracted his hand and a rather flat Natsu sat up, wheezing. Lucy laughed as he staggered upright, grumbling under his breath. Makarov's eyes twinkled as he led them downstairs to the bar. He jumped on top of the counter, making him eye-level with Lucy, and shouted, "Brats! Welcome Lucy, our new celestial mage!" Cheers answered his call while Lucy waved shyly.

A hand tapped her shoulder and she turned to find a white-haired barmaid with kind eyes holding a stamp. "Hello Lucy, I'm Mira. Where would you like your Fairy Tail mark?" Lucy held out a hand. She wanted to be able to see a constant reminder of her escape from Argyle, and hoped that the obvious guild mark would help suggest to people that she was just someone who _looked_ like Princess Lucy, not the escaped heir to the throne herself. She felt a tingle as the magic sank in and smiled at the pink mark adorning her hand. Turning back to the room, she found herself mobbed by people wanting to introduce themselves. It was exciting and a bit disorienting, but an arm snaked its way around her waist and yanked her out of the group. She found herself pressed up against a grinning Natsu. He waved a paper in her face.

"Luce! I got a job for us!" She was almost too distracted by his pecs to answer, but after a moment what he'd said broke through her thoughts.

"A job? What?"

"Yeah! You can take jobs now, and I haven't been able to do anything fun for days! Sooo, let's go!" He started to dash off to the bar to turn it in to Mira when an armored fist grabbed him by the collar.

"Natsu!" barked an intimidating redhead Lucy recalled as Erza. "Just where do you think you're going with our newest member?" He gulped but answered gamely.

"I, uh, thought I'd introduce her to the types of jobs we do? We're just gonna take a day job, Erza!" he whined.

The Scarlet Fury (no one ever called her that to her face) snatched the request and scrutinized it thoroughly. She nodded. "That's a good idea, Natsu. I shall accompany you on this mission." Out of nowhere, she reached out and yanked the dark haired man Lucy had seen with the ice bazooka over to them. "We shall bring Gray as well." Natsu spluttered, protesting, but she gave him a glare that could have stopped Legions. "This request is too large for two of you to handle, especially with a new member! Now, Gray, deliver this to Mira." The shirtless man took the request with an air of resignation and ambled off to do so. Erza turned to Lucy.

"I understand that you are looking to escape your royal past. I have brought hair dye. How does scarlet sound? We could use more redheads!" She advanced on Lucy with the bottle of dye, and in a flash Natsu was in front of her, one arm stretched behind him to keep her in place.

"No! You can't! We'll just get her hats or something!"

A terrifying glint came into Erza's eye. "Well I think Lucy would look lovely as a redhead. Get out of the way, Natsu."

Natsu leaned forward and _hissed,_ eyes narrowing. The arm trapping Lucy suddenly rippled with scales and she saw the muscles in his shoulder blades move as though he were forcefully keeping his wings inside. He stared at Erza; she glared back, seemingly unintimidated. After a tense moment she threw her hair over her shoulder.

"Very well. But they will be red hats."

Natsu waited another moment before straightening. His scales sank back into his skin and when he turned to face her he looked quite normal, if a little nervous. Lucy stared, gobsmacked. "What on Earthland was that about? I happen to think I would look pretty good with red hair! Dying it isn't a bad idea-ok!" she added quickly as Natsu looked murderous once more. "Why don't you want it dyed, though?"

He reached out and touched a lock resting on her shoulder. "In the sun it looks gold." he muttered, before darting away to join Gray and Erza by the door. Lucy stood for a moment, frozen in place, before Gray waved and called her over to join them.

* * *

The walk to the job-only two hours away-was serene. Erza looped Lucy's arm in hers as they got to know each other. Gray strolled alongside them, occasionally interjecting a comment, while Happy lazily soared above them on air currents. Behind them, Natsu was a mess.

He needed to get himself under control, dammit! Going dragon, almost starting a fight with _Erza,_ and then telling Lucy her hair was like gold? Was he mad?! The problem, he reflected irritably, was that he still saw her as a part of his hoard. Although she was rapidly evolving into far more than that, his instincts still screamed that she was his, and to color her hair would be to deliberately dull the shine of his treasure. Gods, he had to get over that. He already felt guilty about the whole thing, she didn't need him to control her life! He would just have to bury the dragon instincts deeper. He looked ahead and gulped. He should also work on checking out her ass a little less. Eyes still glued to the back of her shorts, he decided to focus on that...tomorrow.

When they reached the town, the mages turned wary. Even Natsu was pulled out of his funk to sniff at the air. "Something smells odd here...stagnant. Like swamp water, almost." he muttered suspiciously. The town seemed deserted. No one walked the streets or relaxed on their porches. Erza looked at the request sheet. "It says to meet at the town hall in the center of the village. Come."

The group followed her down the streets to a large, open area in the middle of the town. Lucy assumed it was the town square and likely held festivals and markets in happier times. On one side of the promenade was a large brick building with a bell tower. The doors were shut and the windows closed and barred. As one, the team stepped up to the doors and Erza pounded on them with a gauntleted fist.

"Hello! We are the Fairy Tail mages sent to answer your request!"

The door creaked open and a woman appeared, gesturing them inside urgently. As soon as everyone was through, the door was swiftly shut and locked again. The town hall was obviously a regular meeting place, with a large room ending in a raised stage. A hallway leading to other rooms and a staircase to a second floor could be seen at either side of the stage. Clearly, the residents had all been living in the building for at least several days. Makeshift beds were everywhere and a line formed down one of the hallways to what Lucy realized must be the kitchen, as people steadily appeared back into the main room with plates in their hands. It was well organized and calm, but she could sense the undercurrent of weariness and fear pervading the room. Grey leaned over to her. "Do you sense it? There's a weird magic in here...not active, but more like a lingering spell or something. Not their own power. It's really weird." His fingers twitched, undoing a few buttons. Lucy cleared her throat significantly and he cursed, fixing them quickly.

The woman who had led them inside turned to face them. She had brown hair streaked with grey and a kind face. She wore a simple long dress with rolled up sleeves and a faded blue apron on top. Underneath the grandmotherly exterior, though, a hint of steel showed through. This, then, was the town mayor who had placed the request.

"My name is Lucida. We thank you for coming. Our town has been plagued for the last month by an army of creatures able to wield simple magic. At first, we were able to fight them, but the sheer numbers that have arrived in the last week required us to call for help."

"What are the creatures, exactly? What form of magic do they use?" Erza asked.

Lucida hesitated for the barest of moments before meeting her eyes. "Well. They're giant frogs, and they seem to be able to hex people with their tongues for a period of time."

The group stood dumbfounded for a moment. Frogs? An entire town had been driven inside by tongue-hexing frogs? Grey shook off his incredulity first. "Soooo...when you say they hex people, you mean…?"

Lucida sighed. "It's a variety of things. If it were just one or two of them it might be like a practical joke. Samantha over there-see the girl in the corner?-has to sing everything she says. Mark is a bright blue right now. The hexes last about a day, but if another frog hits you, that hex will take over the first one. Thank god, I don't think we'd be functional if they piled up on you. But make no mistake," and here, the steel in Lucida's expression became pronounced, "this is not a joke. It is not a drill. Some of the hexes are serious, and lately the number of frogs has grown to the point that they have begun eating the crops in the area and causing significant property damage. They tend to arrive in the town at dusk and spend most of the day in the swampy area just north of town; spawning, we presume. I would suggest you go there to fight them while they're all be in one place and it will minimize damage to the town."

Erza nodded firmly. "Very well, ma'am. We appreciate the information. We shall set out at once." The quintet turned, walked out the door, and made it nearly halfway across the square before busting into laughter. Even Erza turned red with the effort to hold back a grin.

"Hex frogs? Seriously?"

"Oh no, we might turn blue!"

Giggling, they headed north into the marsh, expecting an easy mission. As they entered the boggy area, the giggles died as they looked for signs of the magical amphibians. It was quiet except for the squish of mud beneath their feet. Lucy was just brushing her sweaty bangs out of her eyes, distractedly thinking about Natsu's weird overreaction and surprisingly sweet comment earlier, when something slammed into her side with roughly the force of a baseball, sending her to the ground and knocking the wind out of her lungs. She looked down to see a large, moist, pink thing attached to her side. It looked like a long, stretched out piece of gum, but she could see it pulsing gently. She followed the slimy, ropy mass down its length, a good 10 feet, to find a hulking frog at the end the size of a pit bull. It was a swollen monster of an amphibian, with dark green, brown, and purple mottled skin allowing it to blend with the swamp's shadows perfectly. Lucy took all this in in one pained instant, and before she could draw breath the tongue whipped back into the owner's mouth, detaching from her with a sickly sucking noise and yanking her back several feet closer toward the frog. She gasped, frantically scrambling away from it, when a jet of fire shot over her shoulder and incinerated the thing where it crouched. A second later Natsu was at her side, checking the bruise that was already forming on her ribs.

"Shit! That was definitely worse than I was expecting."

"Gray and Erza stood over the remains. "Looks like we shouldn't've laughed at Lucida," Gray remarked. "That was a hell of a frog. Pretty hefty punch to it, too." He looked at Lucy. "I don't see any obvious magical effects, though. Are you alright?"

Lucy opened her mouth to answer in the affirmative, but no words came out. Instead, she let out an enormous belch. Right in Natsu's face. There was a heartbeat of silence, and then Natsu, Happy, and Gray roared with laughter. "Is that the curse? You can't talk, only burp? Oh my god!" Natsu gasped, nearly crying with mirth. "Luce! Try singing something!" Gray rolled on the ground, smearing himself in frog ashes. Happy had dropped out of the sky to land on Natsu's head, clutching his sides.

Amidst the boys' merriment, Erza put a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "I wouldn't worry about it overmuch, Lucy. Remember what Lucida said. The effects only last 24 hours, and if you get hit by another frog you'll take on a different hex." Something rustled in the undergrowth and Erza's head whipped around, eyes narrowed. "In fact, I think there's a very good chance of that happening-look out!" The last two words a shout as she and Lucy dodged a second tongue. It slammed into the ground as the two women bounded away. The boys weren't so lucky, and both Natsu and Gray took hits to the torso as two more tongues shot out of the scrub surrounding the mages. Gray immediately turned a puke yellow color, while Natsu started doing a rather impressive involuntary tap dance. Lucy unfurled her whip as Erza requipped into Heaven's Wheel armor, using three swords to chop at yet more invading pink appendages. Back to back, the two realized that the clearing they were in was surrounded by frogs. The caecilians stormed out into the open, a leap carrying them nearly ten feet. Lucy didn't know what they could do, aside from tongue punches, and she didn't want to find out. So with a war cry (well...war burp), she sent her whip sailing through the air to slash one particularly ugly polliwog across the face. She pulled out Aries and Leo's keys and called the incantations to bring her spirits to her realm. "Burp! Burp burp buuurp burp burp!" Shit. She was going to have to get hit by a tongue again before she could work her magic. Glancing at her companions, she saw that Natsu was having a similar issue. His admittedly fabulous dancing was hindering his ability to pull off his trademarked fire dragon's fighting moves. Gray's magic thankfully wasn't stunted by his jaundiced appearance, and Erza continued to mow down the enemy without trouble.

Taking a deep breath, Lucy braced herself as a tongue came at her, and was able to remain standing when it hit. Thrusting her keys out, she summoned Loke and Aries. They appeared in dual puffs of smoke and went right to work, although both sent raised eyebrows her way. Looking down at her hands she discovered sagging skin and spidery veins. Whipping out a mirror, she let out a warbly shriek upon discovering her new status as an 80 year old crone. Hunching over, she grabbed a handy stick to use as a cane while continuing to punish frogs with her whip. Old or not, she was going to kick some ass! Protected from the worst of it by her loyal spirits, she was able to keep an eye on the rest of the battle. It was rapidly devolving into chaos.

Natsu had managed to catch a tongue coming at him, giving him the hex without the bruise. It didn't seem like he'd made any headway, however, as this hex caused him to float three feet off the ground. He'd begun using his fire to propel himself, but with mobility down another tongue quickly slammed into his thigh. This time when he opened his mouth for a fire dragon's roar, it came out accompanied by a spot on opera note in C major. Natsu was showing all types of performance talent today, Lucy mused.

Erza had finally missed a tongue snaking its way through her blades, and she cursed as she realized that she was now left-handed, awkwardly battling her way through a crowd of frogs. Gray threw up an ice shield up on her now weak right side to help and took a tongue to the pectoral for it. He gained back his normal color, to everyone's visual relief, but now began to ooze slime like a threatened hagfish. He quickly started using the disgusting hex to his advantage, flinging the slime into the crowd of frogs and freezing it. Erza was hit again, and to her chagrin her feet turned into hands while her hands formed into feet. With an irritated cry, she flipped into a handstand (feetstand?) and started battling with her new leg-hands.

By this point most of the frogs were defeated, but the ones remaining seemed wilier than the foot soldiers they'd encountered before. These amphibians were a bit larger and more nimble, dodging the mages as they sent their tongues snaking at them with bone-breaking speed. Lucy, not quite as nimble as the others thanks to her newly advanced age, wasn't quite fast enough and one of the dextrous muscles clipped her on its way by, spinning her around. Thus she had a perfect view of it hitting Erza directly in the sternum. A heartbeat later, and both girls shrieked as their bodies changed rapidly. Fuzzy ears shot up from their heads, Lucy's shoes popped off as her feet expanded, and as she clapped a hand to her rear to investigate a source of burning pain she encountered not skin, but a fluffy round tail. Looking at Erza's new cute button nose and whiskers, she realized they'd been turned into bunny-human hybrids. Although as she bounded ten feet in the air to avoid another frog, she realized that for once the change might be helpful.

There were only five frogs left. Natsu incinerated one with a blast of fire accompanied by what she thought were the opening notes of _Carmen;_ Gray trapped another in frozen slime a moment before Lucy's whip shattered the ugly creature. Gray laughed, backing up to stand by Aries and using her wool to soak up some of his ooze. A moment later one of the last three tongues wrapped around them, squeezing, until Erza skewered its owner with a contemptuous twitch of her bunny nose. Another tongue slammed Loke into the ground but Aries was quick to bury the frog in wool that Natsu quickly set on fire.

A high pitched scream stopped everyone in their tracks. Looking around wildly for the source, Lucy zeroed in on Loke-or who she thought was Loke. His hair had grown out to his waist, and his features were more delicate. His hands-suddenly smaller, his rings were nearly falling off-clutched his large breasts. Wait. Lucy belatedly realized that _he_ was now a _she._ Clearly the last frog had been a sex change hex. She thought briefly that it was too bad they'd killed it: were they able to make that hex permanent, trans people the world over would have been ecstatic. Loke clearly wasn't too pleased, though, so she went over to comfort him. To her surprise, Aries got there first.

"Leo! It's alright, Leo. I still love you all the same." Aries blushed, then slammed her hands over her mouth as Loke gaped at her. Then Gray chimed in. "Yeah, Loke! You're totally hot right now! I'd climb you like a tre-mmph!" He muffled himself, looking horrified. That frog, Lucy mused, appeared to involve some sort of impulsive truth telling. The confession from Aries was thrilling and she couldn't wait to hear the follow up, but as for Gray...she sidled over and inquired sweetly, "So Gray, how's Juvia?" New as she was to the guild, she could see how much the water mage obsessed over him, and the blush Gray tried to hide when she was around. The ice make mage blabbered before he could stop. "She's amazing! I don't know how she's always so wonderful at everything and so strong and so kind and so open and I really kinda like her but I'm scared that-mmph!" He clapped his hands over his mouth again and glared. Erza chuckled behind them, while Natsu let out a baritone trill, presumably an opera-induced laugh.

Erza dusted off her paws as Loke and Aries vanished back into the spirit realm. "Well, I think we're done here. Gray! Come help me pack up my luggage. One of those toads scattered it." She strode out of the clearing with Gray following her, hands still firmly clamped over his mouth.

Lucy turned to Natsu, chuckling, when the last frog burst out of the brush it had been hiding in and smashed its tongue into her stomach. She went down, gasping for air as she faintly heard Natsu pulverizing it. A moment later he was by her side.

"Lucy!" he sang, still under the thrall of his hex. "Lucy, are you alright?"

She looked up at him. God, he was hot. She focused in on his chest. She could see sweat glistening on the sculpted muscles. He was so close...she leaned in and licked him, needing a taste.

He let out a falsetto yelp. Did she just? Looking down, he saw her eyes were clouded by lust. One delicate hand drew a path from his collar bone down. He shuddered, groaning low in his throat. This was amazing. This was sinfully good. This is exactly what he'd wanted when he'd teasingly tried to seduce her while she'd been chained in his cave. Except, even when she'd been in his cave, she'd been in her right mind. She could and did say no. Now, under a curse of amphibious origin, she wasn't. And that wasn't ok. With a gasp, Natsu opened his eyes and grabbed her wrist just as her fingers dipped under his waistband.

"No, Lucy!" he warbled, "this is wrong! You can't!"

"But Natsu," she murmured, reaching up to nip at his ear, "isn't this what you want?" She giggled, planting kisses along his jaw. "I _know_ it's what I want."

His groan was a basso melody suited to the tortured antihero in _Phantom of the Opera._ With an extraordinary amount of willpower, he pushed her roughly off his lap onto the ground. She inhaled sharply, clutching her side where she'd been hit and for a moment the carnal glaze in her eyes lifted. He took his chance.

"I don't want this, Lucy! Don't do this, don't try to attack me! I won't do that with you like this!" he sang desperately.

But the forced lust was still upon her, and despite her injuries she began to slink toward him. "Maybe I'll just have to change your mind, darling." she purred.

Natsu was really starting to panic when Erza and Gray reappeared, toting Erza's luggage cart. "Natsu! Lucy! We have an anti-hex potion! Happy flew back to the town to buy some when the fight started, we both already took it!" Gray shouted happily. Happy puffed out his chest proudly at his own ingenuity. Natsu made a mad dash over to them. "Give it here!" he yodelled. Ignoring Happy and Gray's guffaws at his singing-it was better than the ice princess's could be any day-he slugged back a swallow and carefully approached Lucy. Crouching down in front of her, he was careful to shield her from the others' view. He didn't need Gray to see her as a veritable sex kitten, and he was positive Erza would kill him for 'taking advantage' of her whether or not that was the case. Happy would just be annoying. He tried to give her the bottle, but she rebuffed it.

"Natsu! I don't want that! I want youuuu." She licked her lips and captured his hand, sucking one finger into her mouth. He tried to ignore all the images that popped into his head at the act as an idea struck him. Pulling his fingers out of her warm, wet, amazing-focus Natsu-he dumped some of the liquid on his hand and stuck them right back in. She beamed at him, swirling her tongue around the digits and making him groan. Slowly, the gleam in her eyes faded to horror, and she yanked her head away.

" _C'mon Natsu, think fast. Gotta say something to calm her down, can't let her think about how obviously into it you were like a creep; still though, keep it smooth, leave the flirt door open…"_

"Thanks for deepthroating my fingers, weirdo." She blanched, turning bright red.

" _Dammit, Dragneel! She's even more upset! You sound like a creep. Backpedal!"_

"I mean, um. Sorry. I, uh, deeply value you. As a person! As a friend, yeah, just friends!" Natsu almost smacked himself in the face, he felt so awkward. Lucy looked less like she was about to cry, but he'd just firmly friendzoned himself. Although, obviously she was upset about the whole situation; maybe she wasn't into him after all. In which case he'd try to stick with friends instead of pushing her away completely. Digging up a lopsided grin, he offered her a hand up and helped her over to lean on the luggage cart.

"Are you two alright?" Erza queried, taking back the remainder of the potion.

"Yeah, we'll be alright. Let's go back to the town and get the reward, yeah? We didn't destroy the place for once, so we'll get the full one! C'mon." Natsu led the group away from the battlefield, deliberately putting some distance between himself and Lucy. She'd probably feel better if he gave her some space and besides, he was still fired up at the thought of her coming onto him like that.

Lucy trailed behind the group, bedraggled and upset. Her life as a princess came in handy as she schooled her face into a neutral yet pleasant mask, hiding her thoughts. Her emotions churned and mind raced as they walked. When they stopped back at the town hall and Erza delivered the news, she barely roused herself enough to wave at the cheering townsfolk. Thankfully they were all tired, or her silence may have caused question. But as it was, she was left to her turmoil alone.

What _happened_ back in that clearing? She knew the basics: she'd been hit with a lust hex and thrown herself at Natsu. And he'd rejected her. Hard. Why was that so upsetting? She spent a week planning to escape his home and never set eyes on him again! She couldn't deny she was physically attracted to him. Since their battle on the hills, he'd apologized over and over and she'd begun to see another side to him. They weren't close, but a friendship had begun to bloom. Maybe her attraction had turned into a little crush.

Lucy didn't have any experience with crushes, or with people her age in general. She was at a complete loss as to what to do, or how to handle this. But he'd seemed pretty clear when he'd stressed the value he put on their newly forged friendship. His teasing must've just been that, teasing. She would push her attraction aside and focus on their friendship, as well. Maybe it was normal to have little crushes on friends and everyone else understood not to act on them. Maybe he'd only pushed her away because she was under a spell? That seemed a dangerous assumption to make. She was so confused. But she took a breath and lifted her head. She was still technically a princess, dammit. So she pushed it all into the back of her mind, firmly avoided looking at Natsu's deliciously broad shoulders, and started chatting with Erza about the possibility of getting her own place in town. She was just starting to get excited about apartment hunting and decorating with some of the girls when an innocuous looking vine moved on its own accord to slither around her ankle. Before she could blink, the vine had tightened and yanked her off the path into the forest. Lucy's fingers scrabbled at the ground, managing to catch on a root for a moment. She had a second to look back at the road and she saw more plants slamming into her friends and pulling them to the ground, binding and choking despite their attempts to fight. Then the vine ripped her away from her handhold and dragged her into the darkness of the woods.

* * *

 **Another chapter down! Hope everyone enjoyed, let me know what you think! Next up: where is the vine taking Lucy? Will the others be alright? Will everyone in the guild pass out in shock when they find out Team Natsu got the full reward for once? Stay tuned!**


	10. Diplomacy at it's Finest

**Hi everyone, welcome to chapter 10! Enjoy!**

* * *

Natsu roared his fury as Lucy was hauled away into the trees. He tried to sprint after her, but more vines rose up and twisted their way around his limbs. They tightened painfully, dragging him to the ground and choking him. He lit himself on fire, burning away the greenery clinging to him, but more took their place so fast it barely made a difference. He could see Erza slicing at the vines, but they slipped under her guard and wound around her hands, effectively immobilizing her. Gray had frozen a shell around himself, stopping the vines from choking him, but they covered the sphere so thickly that Natsu could hardly tell he was inside. Even Happy was being chased by one in the air, weaving frantically to avoid it. He snarled. He couldn't move in any direction; it was all he could do to keep the damn things off him. To make matters worse, he still hadn't seen the mage that was certainly controlling the plants. The way Lucy had been targeted and separated from them was proof that this was the work of another bastard looking for reward money. If they succeeded, Lucy would be taken back to her father. She'd have to marry that guy that supposedly liked to beat his wives and would have her keys taken from her.

Not if Natsu had anything to say about it.

He stopped his wild halo of flame, allowing the creepers to encircle him. Then he focused his magic and pushed heat along each ropy tendril as fast as he could, creating an effect rather like lighting a fuse as vines fizzled away down their length to their end. If the plant was the fuse, then the mage was the dynamite. There was a high pitched scream as the last of the vines burned into nothingness and the remaining heat was pushed onto the man connected to them. He lost his grip on his magic and the remaining weeds fell to the ground, lifeless. Erza and Gray freed themselves and joined Natsu as he hauled the mage up by his lapels.

The man was small and lean. His face was thin, and his close-set eyes were wide with fear. It was clear why the fire had hurt him so badly; the vines seemed a part of his body. He was barefoot and his feet looked rather like roots, some of which stretched away from them toward the clearing. His arms transitioned from flesh to vegetation; where his fingers should have been were vines, splitting into nearly twoscore thick, weedy, ropes. Well, one hand was like that. The other was a burnt mess. As they watched, the plantlike parts of the mage slowly shriveled up and regained human appearance once more. The burnt portion remained as it was, apparently too damaged to return to normal.

Natsu looked him over with the most terrifying face he could muster (he was proud to say a few men had wet themselves at his glare), horns and wings and tail on display, fire flickering over his shoulders and in his eyes.

"Bring Lucy back." he growled. "I know she's on the end of one of your damn weeds."

The smaller man spluttered, white in the face. "I, I, I can't! It's not my vine! Please, gods, don't kill me! We're under orders!"

"Not your vine? You're a fucking vine mage! You expect me to believe-" Natsu was cut off when Erza's hand replaced his own holding the mage up.

"He is not lying, Natsu. His vines have all vanished and none lead to Lucy. Either he has left her in some part of the forest, or there is another plant mage present who has her."

Gray stepped up. "Go, Flamebrain. We got this. I want to know what this fugly bastard meant by 'under orders.'"

That was all Natsu needed. He took off into the woods, Happy streaking behind him. He didn't need his nose to follow the path of destruction left in Lucy's wake. He hoped she wasn't too injured from being dragged like that.

* * *

Lucy thrashed, struggling against the vines that held her. It was no use. She'd been yanked into this clearing and hung upside-down by one dainty ankle. Unlike her escape from Natsu's hoard, however, there was no Virgo to help her down. No, another creeper had twisted around her hands and before she could orient herself a man seemingly made of plants had snapped a metal collar around her neck and snatched her keys, snapping another metal circle onto the keyring. All of that completed, she was finally pulled upright, now dangling by her wrists. The man smiled at her, revealing dirty teeth. He bowed mockingly.

"Hullo, Princess. Before you try, the cuff around your keys is anti-magic. Your spirits won't be comin' out on their own. Your collar is the same. We told you probably ain't able to tar-drass, or somethin', but we gotta put that on just in case. Looks good on you." He leered and Lucy silently cursed. She couldn't quite pull off a full stardress yet, but she was close enough to potentially have used it to her advantage. But with the collar that wouldn't be happening. Neither, it appeared, would Urano Metria, her final form "let's-blow-this-joint" spell. Her shoulders throbbed as she hung in the air. A breeze highlighted her awareness of several scrapes left by the forest as it kissed her exposed skin-a lot more exposed skin than she remembered. She looked down and shrieked. Her clothes were shredded! The important bits were covered, but not by much. Looking up, she shrieked again to find the hungry eyes of her captor barely a foot away.

He winced. "Shut up!" A vine forced its way between her teeth, muting her screams. Another one wrapped around her leg, slowly climbing its way up. The man stepped closer.

"My vines are part of me, Princess. I feel what they do, if I wish. An' right now, I want to feel this pretty leg of yours." Lucy fought the vines, but suspended in the air there was nothing she could do. She refused to give the bastard the satisfaction of seeing her fear, so she stared him in the face defiantly, trying to ignore the ever rising tendril. Another one wrapped around her shoulders and traced across her chest, pushing her breasts together. The mage leaned so close she could feel his putrid breath wash across her face. Despite herself her eyes squeezed shut, horror overtaking her.

A rush of heat bloomed against her cheeks, and the stink of the man vanished. Her eyes flew open as the plant mage howled in anger and threw Natsu back across the clearing.

"Detach!" he snarled, and the vines holding her looped around a tree limb before breaking away from the rest of him, effectively holding her captive while leaving him free to fight. Natsu was an inferno, his entire body blazing as he charged the plant-man. The mage's face twisted in pain as flames licked along the vines, but he was apparently well-hydrated, and the greenery didn't catch fire the way Natsu'd been hoping. He tried pushing his heat into the creepers again, but this man was stronger than the last, and they merely charred halfway up the length before petering out. A tendril tightened around Natsu's ankle and pulled him upside-down, like Lucy had been only minutes before. A pair of thick, heavy vines swung across the clearing, building speed before they slammed Natsu across the chest. He choked in pain, weakly hitting out to block them as they whipped at him again, but their flexibility meant they just bent around his arms and smashed into him anyway.

The plant mage laughed, and turned to wink at Lucy as she tried to scream at him to stop through her gag. The moment he turned his face away, a blur of blue streaked across the glade and charged into his chest, knocking him back several steps. Before the man could fully regain his balance Happy was at his throat, clawing and biting. The mage screamed in pain and turned one hand fully human to grab Happy and throw him. Hard. Happy spun through the air and hit a tree trunk with a crack, slumping to the ground.

Natsu. Exploded.

White hot flames consumed him and Lucy felt the heat press into her skin like a living creature. The vines holding him up were reduced to ash and he crossed the clearing like an avenging demon, leaving scorched earth in his wake. The mage sent seemingly endless projectiles at him, but Happy's deep scratches caused blood to flow down his face and into his eyes, blinding him. Natsu had no trouble contemptuously slapping aside his last few poorly aimed tendrils. Then, in a fully justified role reversal, he threw the other man through the air and into a tree. With the mage unconscious, Natsu's first move was to run to Happy, extinguishing his fires as he went. Gently, he ran his hands over his fur, then pulled both eyelids open, one at a time. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"No broken bones from what I can tell, he's breathing normally, and his pupils both respond to light. I don't think it's anything life threatening. We'll have Wendy handle the concussion when we get back." He took off his vest and nestled Happy carefully onto his side on top of it. Now that his buddy was as ok as he could make him, he turned to Lucy.

Lucy watched Natsu from where she hung, still bound. His devotion to his friend was touching, and she greeted the news of his health with relief. Then Natsu stood and turned to her. His eyes swept over her battered and bound form, and she thought he'd be furious. And he was. But his eyes had turned dark and smoky and the growl that bubbled up from his throat was full of possession. She realized that she was half naked and helpless in front of a man who'd spent the entire first week of their acquaintance attempting to seduce her, while keeping her chained to a post. His gaze was making her squirm, but not with disgust. Trepidation, yes, but also anticipation. He stepped forward, still devouring her with his eyes. He leaned down and his breath whispered across her ear. One hand wrapped around her waist, barely touching her. The other came up and traced ever so lightly across her cheekbone, where she had a scrape. That hand moved up to grasp the vines holding her arms, and Natsu's eyes narrowed. The vines heated against her skin, but did not burn her. A moment later they withered, and she realized his heat was evaporating the water inside the plants, drying them up and stealing their life. She fell as the plants pulled away from her limbs, and Natsu's arm around her waist was there to catch her. She leaned into his chest, listening to his breath, ragged in her ear. When he spoke it was rough, and sounded as though he were under a strain.

"Next time you let someone tie you up, it had better be me."

Then he lowered her to the ground, and scooped up Happy and placed him in her arms. Before Lucy could get over her shock, he'd grabbed the still knocked-out mage's ankle and started towing him out of the glade, clearly expecting her to follow. She gaped after him for a moment, then scrambled to her feet and followed, cradling Happy to her chest.

They came out of the woods nearly fifteen minutes later, giving Lucy enough time to thoroughly dissect every second of the encounter, and become more confused than ever. First he teases her for a week. Then he backs off and is friendly. Then he acts possessive when Erza mentions her hair. _Then_ he says he 'values their friendship' after she throws herself at him. Not a day later, he's giving her sex eyes and whispering kinky things to her before leaving her behind as he drags some guy through a forest!

Lucy decided then and there to make some more female friends. Men were too confusing.

She squinted as she stepped out of the gloom of the trees into the sun. After a moment she saw Natsu join Erza and Gray, dumping the mage down beside-she blinked. There were two of them? Hopefully the other one hadn't been as creepy as hers had. Although it didn't look like Erza had castrated anyone, so she supposed not. As she approached the group, Erza stepped forward to meet her with a serious look on her face.

"Lucy. We need to get back to the guild as soon as possible. These men were sent by your fiance. We'll discuss the rest once we're safe at home."

* * *

Several tense hours later, they were back in the guild hall, prisoners successfully delivered to Laki for safekeeping until the Council's knights could collect them. Wendy had taken Happy to the infirmary, and the rest of the team had sequestered themselves in the Master's office.

"So the mages were sent from the prince? Specifically him? That strikes me as odd." Makarov's brows were drawn together in concern. "The image presented to the world at large is one of companionship-your father and fiance working together to bring a beloved princess home. We know that instructions to bounty hunters are less loving, but they still act in concert. Why would these men have instructions to bring you to Tristan and Tristan alone? It is worrying."

Lucy's eyes were on her hands, twisted uselessly in her lap. "The prince is known as having a...forceful personality. What he wants, he gets. There are also whispers of sadism. Nothing proven."

Gray jumped in. "A sadistic prince is a big deal. If there's only whispers of it, he's either way scarier than he looks or he's really good at hiding it. Either way, sounds sneaky as hell. Whatever he's doing is probably under wraps."

Lucy grimaced. Gray was right. "The treaty between our countries hinges on the marriage. If they don't find me, it could fall through. It's likely that both Tristan and my father are looking for a plan b to the treaty. My father will likely try a diplomatic approach and will speak directly to Zenada's king. That would cut Tristan out of the picture. He's the younger brother-his only chance to rule is through marriage. That's probably why he's putting so much effort into this. Having me delivered directly to him would give him a strong hand to play at the negotiating table. I'm his only trump card, really. My father has plenty of other things he can offer Zenada. His main goal getting me back is his image. For Tristan, it's personal gain."

The room was quiet for a moment after she had finished painting the bleak picture. Then Natsu stomped across the room to kneel in front of her chair, raising her chin to pull her gaze away from her endlessly worrying hands.

"You're not a card, Lucy." His eyes burned into hers, demanding her attention. "You're not a pawn, or a hand to play. You're a person, and they should be trying to find you because they're worried about you, not because they're embarrassed or need you to rule." His mouth lifted in a small smile. "I can see why you ran away from that. Good thing you found us to show you what a real family is like."

The Master spoke. "He's right, Lucy. You're part of our family now. No one here will betray your location and we will fight to protect you, as you would for us. That said, I think you ought to write that abdication letter we discussed. Perhaps you could send it to your father first-it would save him public embarrassment, and allow him to pursue other options for the treaty. He can then break the news to the prince. Once you are no longer a path to power, he has no more reason to send men."

Lucy beamed at the wizened man, not-so-subtly brushing a tear away at the thought of belonging somewhere. "Of course! That's an excellent idea. I'll draft it today and we can send it with tomorrow's post."

The Master smiled at his newest child. "If you would like any assistance, I'm sure either Levy or myself would be happy to help."

Erza stepped forward. "Until this letter is received, Lucy is still in danger. We all know you're a capable mage, but no one can be on guard 24/7. I'm afraid apartment shopping will have to wait; it would be best if you stayed with someone for now." She gripped Lucy's hand hard enough that the bones creaked in protest. "I offer myself as a guardian, Lucy. We shall have sleepovers and strawberry cake and dispense justice to thugs and perverts!" Her eyes shone with fervent light as she pulled Lucy toward the guild's main room.

Natsu jumped in front of the door, spreading his arms to stop them; no way in Hell was he letting anyone take his Lucy! He narrowed his eyes at the charging Erza, and then his world went white. Vision clearing a moment later, he found himself looking up at the fiery redhead from the floor with a sword at his throat.

"It is improper for Lucy to stay with you, Natsu. Do you have a problem with that?"

He inhaled, ready to hit her with a Fire Dragon's Roar, when Lucy stuck her head into his field of vision. "Natsu, it's alright, really. It'll be fun to have a girls' night! How about I go with Erza tonight and then come back to the hoard tomorrow? All my things are there anyway." She placated them both with years of diplomatic experience.

Gray had followed the little group to the hallway. "Natsu's place is probably as safe as it gets. But I'm curious, how did you two end up staying together? Neither of you mentioned it."

Natsu and Lucy both paled. While Lucy had told the master about their circumstances, she got the feeling Erza might actually kill Natsu. " _And I can't let her kill him before I get to taste those abs-I mean, get my stuff."_ she thought. " _Maybe this girls' night will do me good!" S_ he hurriedly changed the subject. "We just happened to bump into each other and he helped me out!" she squeaked, to Natsu's unutterable relief. "So, um, what does one do on a girls' night? I've never had one!"

Erza was completely sidetracked, although Gray narrowed his eyes at Natsu suspiciously. He noticed that the slayer now seemed wholeheartedly behind the idea of girls' night if it meant getting Erza off his back.

Levy was more than happy to look over the letter for Lucy. With her extensive reading of politics, history, and diplomacy, she suggested several edits to the draft and they ended up with a professional document in a few short hours. Lucy signed it and set her seal to it in wax, after digging out her royal seal from her bag. She caught Natsu eyeing it covetously and quickly shoved it back to the bottom of the pack, warning him away with a look. Natsu grumbled about it, but he didn't really mind. She was coming back to his hoard, after all. Which meant the trinket would end up inside his walls anyway.

The letter was done early enough for the post office to still be open, and Happy (thankfully recovered, due to Wendy) dropped it off just before the workers sent off the last truck of the night. Hopefully it would reach her father by the following morning. Several copies sat in the Master's safe, awaiting publication in a week or so after King Jude had had the chance to consider other options for the treaty. Much though the majority of the guild thought public humiliation was the least Jude deserved, they had to admit that doing so might not be the smartest move they could make. Letter sent, Lucy was bundled off by the girls to Fairy Hills for a promised night of hot chocolate and hair braiding.

Natsu sidled over to the door, eyes locked on Lucy's departing figure. She hadn't been out of sight for more than a few moments since they'd made amends and he was acutely uncomfortable. Despite knowing she'd be fine surrounded by some of the guild's strongest members (who was he kidding, she ranked right up top, too) he was scared something would happen. He took a step out the door, fully intending to spend the night protecting her from the shadows and maybe catching a peek of her while she changed into pj's. Barely a foot away from the guild, however, a hand gripped the back of his neck and yanked him back inside before hurling him across the room and into a pillar. Before he could sit up, a bolt of electricity crackled down and knocked him unconscious.

* * *

Lucy giggled as Juvia braided her hair into an intricate side plait. Wendy sat between her knees, allowing Lucy to twist her hair into Princess Leia buns on either side of her head. Lisanna gave Mira and Erza simultaneous pedicures while Erza polished a delicate throwing star. Cana passed everyone a mimosa under the critical eye of Carla. In the center of Fairy Hill's lounge, on a pile of pillows and munching on a chocolate bar, Levy regaled them with a romance novel she'd pulled out of her endless stacks of books. Lucy thought she'd never been so happy.

* * *

Natsu woke up groggily. His head was killing him. He tried to reach a hand up to rub his temple and found himself chained to the pillar he'd been thrown into earlier. Looking up, he found himself surrounded by the majority of the men in Fairy Tale, minus the master and Gildarts. The lightning had clearly been courtesy of Laxus and the chains from Gajeel. The parts of the pillar that had cracked under his velocity, he noted, had been reinforced with ice. Three guesses who that was. He glared at the men surrounding him. They stared back with what he slowly realized wasn't malice, but...confusion? Bixlow stepped forward. "Natsu. We talked it over, and we have to know. How the fuck did a guy like you snag a babe like Lucy?"

* * *

Lucy sighed in bliss. She hadn't expected Fairy Hills to have a mini spa and jacuzzi! The girls melted into the steaming water. Scented candles lit the area and soft music drifted through the air. She squeaked when Levy turned on the jets, but the streams of water hitting her back unknotted muscles she didn't know she had. She sighed, closing her eyes lazily. The mimosa had made her a little tipsy and she was just so _happy._ When Mira drifted over and slipped an arm around her shoulders, she turned her head to grin sloppily at the demon barmaid, not noticing the rest of the girls closing in. "Lucy, we're all just so curious to learn more about you; why don't you tell us more about how you and Natsu met?" Lucy hummed in thought. Why not? These were the first girlfriends she'd ever had! They'd spent the night catching her up on guild gossip and lightly teasing each other about their crushes and boyfriends. Maybe they could give her some insight? She was sure Natsu would understand, and besides, it was a pretty memorable meeting. She giggled. "Well now that you mention it, it's kind of a funny story...but you can't tell Natsu I told! He'd be so embarrassed!"

* * *

Natsu was growing more and more pissed off. Steam started literally coming out of his ears as the guys took turns questioning him, usually with a jab or two. "C'mon, man, we know you didn't charm her or something. She's way too good for you!" "I mean, sure, girls might go for the famous Salamander for a night, but there's no way a _princess_ would hang out with you for more than two days!" "Just tell us what you did, Flamebrain!" "Yeah, clearly she's got a weakness for something and you know what it is! Sharing is caring, man. We should all get a shot at her, too!" The last one set him over the edge. No one else was getting a shot!He exploded into an inferno that forced even Laxus a step back. The ice on the pillar evaporated, allowing him space to slither out of the chains. Scales rippled up his arm as he threw a punch at Elfman, sending the large man into Laxus. Freed took offense at that- "You could've stopped yourself! Laxus, are you hurt?! Elfman, how could you!"-and hit the takeover mage with a rune that hung him upside down by his underwear. Natsu was already busy throwing Wakaba into Max and tripping Macao so he fouled up Gajeel. The brawl quickly spread out of control, every man for himself. Fists and magic flew, tables were smashed, and bruises sprouted. Natsu's voice rang out over it all. "NOT A SINGLE ONE OF YOU FUCKERS IS GETTING ANYTHING ABOUT LUCY OUTTA ME! HANDS! OFF!"

* * *

After Lucy finished her story, catching the girls up on everything that had happened from the day of her escape from Argyle to about ten minutes before they'd all left for Fairy Hills, the only sound was the bubble of the jacuzzi and the soft strains of classical jazz drifting out of the music player. Then they exploded. "Sooo CUTE!" squealed Mira, hearts in her eyes. "Good thing you kicked his ass, Lu. Looks like he's really trying to make up for everything. Your very own sexy dragon protector!" Levy sighed, clearly wishing for her own sexy dragon protector. Cana sat in a corner, cackling. "Jump him, Lucy! Men don't know what they want til you show em!" Erza, about to go chop Natsu into tiny pieces for kidnapping a woman, was halted in her tracks as an intense blush took over her face. "Is it true? Would Jellal enjoy being jumped upon so forcefully?" the redhead pondered. Lucy was bombarded with questions and advice. She was beginning to sober up and considered that tipsily admitting to finding Natsu attractive and going into a detailed account of every smouldering look was maybe not her best idea. Especially since they'd all promised to beat the living hell out of him tomorrow, however friendly the two were now. But hey, she was at least getting some solid insight into his character. And a whole lot of sex advice from everyone except Erza and Wendy; she was feeling a little awkward about it, frankly. Poor Wendy's eyes were big as saucers and Erza was by herself in a corner, muttering something about jumping. Lucy decided to just go with the flow and picked up another mimosa.

* * *

The guild was in shambles. Broken furniture was scattered everywhere, pillars were cracked, and someone had raided the bar in the madness. Everywhere lay panting boys, bruised and exhausted. Gray piped up. "Seriously, Natsu." pant, pant. "What happened?" Natsu glared at the ceiling, then sighed. They'd find out eventually. "Well, I, kinda uhm...accidentally mistook her for part of my hoard and kidnapped her for a week…" damn, this wasn't going to be any less embarrassing than them finding out later. He took a breath. "And then she escaped, we fought each other, we fought some other dudes, she pulled my head out my ass, and now we're cool. I promised to protect her and all that. Y'know." The men nodded sagely after a moment. They'd all been in their fair share of weird situations. Everyone spent another minute staring at the ceiling before Laxus spoke up. "If Mirajane sees the bar like this she is going to be _pissed."_ And without further ado they got up to hastily fix the guild up as best they could.

* * *

Lucy curled up in her sleeping bag, pulling the fabric over her head. After hot chocolate and a pillow fight (Erza won, although Lucy taken out half the competition by bringing Aries out and wool-bombing her opponents into submission), the girls had thrown a mountain of pillows, blankets, and sleeping bags into the lounge and everyone grabbed what they needed to make a bed. Now the air was filled with the sound of soft snores, sighs, and several people mumbling in their sleep. She distinctly heard Levy cycling through several languages as she dreamed. Lucy was the only one still awake. She huffed. Wasn't there another blanket somewhere? But no, the pile had been picked clean. So she sucked it up and burrowed into the pathetic bag that was supposed to keep her warm, and forbade herself of thinking of the source of warmth she'd been sleeping next to for the past two weeks. All the explicit advice she'd received that evening, along with the assurances that _of course_ Natsu was into her, too, didn't help.

Thus she was very awake when she heard the window open. She froze, extending her senses as much as she could while buried in the bag. So she heard soft steps cross the floor, hesitate a moment, then come toward her. Her mind raced. Another kidnapper? Her friends were asleep and defenseless. Pulling out a lot of power could get them hurt in the crossfire. She clenched her fists, the tension building, ready to spring-

"Lucy?" a hand dropped onto her shoulder, making her thrash. "Shh! Stop stop stop!" the voice hissed, at the same time strong arms lifted her, bag and all. Lucy stopped flailing to escape; she knew that voice. Instead, she focused on trying to find the zipper to undo the sleeping bag, but in her struggles she'd turned herself around somehow and found herself trapped in the darkness. A soft zipping noise followed by light revealed Natsu undoing the bag. He stifled a laugh at her disheveled appearance. Lucy glared.

"What were you thinking?" she whispered heatedly. "Are you insane? I thought you were here to kidnap me!" He dipped his head, making her aware that she was still trapped in his arms. His lips brushed her ear. "Who says I'm not?" he teased lightly.

She couldn't stop a shudder. This wasn't fair, especially after everything the girls had talked about that evening! She pulled her scrambled thoughts together. "You can't kidnap me. When everyone wakes up in the morning they'd see I was gone and assume the worst. They'd kill you when they found out." Nevermind that they were planning on killing him anyway before resurrecting him and pushing her into his bed. Minor details.

He looked deep in thought. "Well, if I can't take you away, I'll just have to stay!"

"You can't stay! This is a _girls dorm."_

"C'mon, Luce. I'll be gone before anyone wakes up! I just get worried about you. And, eh, I guess I got used to sleeping with you around."

She thought she saw the lightest tinge of pink on his cheeks in the darkness. Hell. How was she supposed to say no to that? Besides, she was finally warm, cuddled against him like this. Mutely, she nodded and was treated to his grin. Carefully laying her back down, he ignored her squeak when he unzipped her sleeping bag the rest of the way and slid in next to her. Zipping them back up, they were both confronted with the lack of space. While they'd continued to share a bed, Lucy always insisted they stay on opposite sides and build the stupidest thing Natsu had ever heard of, a pillow wall. All it did was take away pillows from his head, and by the morning the wall was destroyed and he was draped all over Lucy anyway. So what was the point? But now they were stuck. Grinning, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest and nuzzling her hair.

Lucy's heart was going a mile a minute. He was so close! And was he...nuzzling her? This was not helping her wayward thoughts. Not at all. She squirmed a bit, but stopped when his response was to pull her even closer. Clearly there was no winning. And she was so comfortable. Despite her raging hormones, her eyes slipped closed and she drifted away to dreamland.

* * *

She woke slowly, feeling sluggish and happy and warm. She snuggled into the hard chest in front of her, feeling arms tighten around her and one hand come up to cup the back of her head. She sighed lightly. This was perfect. About to drop back off, she heard a click. Then another. Tuning into the world a little bit, she heard whispers and more clicks. What on earth? Blinking in the morning light, she turned her head and froze. They were surrounded. Wasn't Natsu supposed to have left before anyone woke up? Levy giggled and Lisanna poked her. "You're so gross, Lu-chan! Doing naughty things in a sleeping bag with everyone else here!"

They could have cooked an egg on Lucy's face. "It-it's not like that! He was just worried and wanted to make sure I was alright! So he slept here!"

"Noble as that may be, Natsu has encroached upon female-only territory on girls night. Aside from which, I believe we owe him a punishment." The girls parted for Erza to step forward, and Lucy saw that they were all putting away cameras and rolling up their sleeves. Clearly there was only one thing to do. She eased out of the sleeping Natsu's hold and gently shook him awake. His eyes fluttered open, and in a husky voice asked, "Luce? Wass goin' on?"

"Some people want to talk to you about how we met, Natsu." And she stepped out of the way. Natsu took one look at the avenging angels surrounding him, then made a break for the window. He jumped out, followed by a veritable Amazonian hoard. Lucy poked her head out the window and saw him high tailing it down the street. Just before he turned the corning, one of Levy's scripted vines tripped him up and they were on him. Lucy shook her head and began cleaning up the lounge. Maybe they could all get breakfast at the guild.

* * *

That evening, King Jude sat at his desk in his study, reviewing a proposal for farming subsidies in the northern part of his lands. Papers were piled on the desk, stacked neatly and organized by region and priority. During the day, several secretaries and advisers shared the room with him and helped with the colossal task of running a country. But now, with the sun's final rays crossing the carpet, he was alone. Or was, until a single knock came at the door, followed immediately by a tall, spare man walking in without waiting for permission. Jude scowled.

"I assume this is important. Is it Lucy?"

The man bowed in apology for the intrusion. "It is, your highness. She has sent a letter. No one has read it, but it bears her crest." He offered the envelope to Jude, who nearly snatched it. He opened it and scanned it once, then twice. Closing his eyes, he offered it to his advisor.

"Read it, Namvere. You know our country as well as I do, and my daughter perhaps better."

Namvere took the letter from his king's grasp and looked it over. He couldn't say he was surprised. Jude interrupted his musings. "Did she send this anywhere else?" He shook his head. "No, my lord."

"Good. We will send a team of the best to get her back. Word of this cannot get out. Once she returns, we will announce the marriage and complete the treaty-"

"Your Majesty."

"-Yes, Namvere?"

The advisor sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. This was not going to be easy. "Lucy has every legal right to abdicate the throne. It is entirely likely that she has set up failsafes to get that letter to the press should she be brought back. I think she sent this to us first as an offer of peace. It allows us to find alternatives to the treaty and spin this to our benefit as much as possible when we announce it to the public. Dragging her back would only create a scandal. Lucy is much loved and you could lose support from the people. Other countries would see it as a weakness, and we cannot give them that."

The king slammed a hand down on the desk. "But how could she do this?" he cried, "Lucy knew she would have to get married for the state! She knew what her duty to this country was! She was preparing to be its queen!" He was nearly apoplectic with rage. Namvere took a breath. He would have to be delicate to help Jude understand.

"She does love Argyle and has its interests at heart. She was prepared to marry for the good of the state. But you've got to recognize, Jude, that she couldn't put that above her own health and safety." Jude looked over at him, eyes narrowed. Namvere had been in his service for decades and he trusted him absolutely. It was why he allowed the man to use his given name with no title. But it was rare that the advisor did so and the king knew it meant he was deadly serious.

"What do you mean by that? Her health?"

"Jude, you spend everyday working yourself to the bone for the good of your country. And it has blossomed under your care. But I can't help but think that perhaps sometimes you are so focused on the good of many that you forget that we are a country made of individuals, and it is for each individual that we work. Lucy is one of your subjects, as we all are. Although her marriage would have furthered the good for many, the prince is a cruel man. Twisted, somehow. I don't know, but when I speak to him something is not right. Lucy had heard the rumors, she knew that to marry him was to accept her fate. But she also knows that Argyle needs this treaty. So she ran away, ambiguously enough so that Zanada doesn't realize she rejected them, and sent us a private letter renouncing her claim so that we could explore other avenues and maintain peace."

The king's head had bowed while his advisor spoke. He sat like that for a long moment, deep in thought. Then, quietly, "Perhaps you have a point." He straightened. "Do you think there is a way to bring Lucy back to her rightful place as heir to the throne, were we to break the engagement and create a separate treaty with Zanada? I trust your judgement of the prince. The last few times we have spoken I've felt uneasy. I thought perhaps it was the situation and pushed it away for the sake of the treaty. Pushed away the individual for the many, I suppose." He let out a bitter laugh. "When Lucy comes home I will choose a better husband for her. Perhaps she can help."

Namvere didn't voice his thoughts: that she wouldn't be coming home. He'd already pushed the boundaries of his position. Instead he put his head together with his king to plan out alternative treaties to offer the king of Zanada.

Neither of them noticed a fly buzz across the room and underneath the door.

* * *

The fly whizzed down the hallway, staying to the shadows. Across one wing of the palace, two floors up, and down an opulent hallway. The fly slipped under an imposing set of double doors at the end of the corridor and entered a richly furnished sitting room. Prince Tristan sat in one of the plush armchairs with a second man, deep in conversation. The fly landed on a third chair. It arched, quivered its wings oddly, and a moment later a man sat on the cushion where the fly had just been. The prince raised a brow.

"Has our host left his study already? Usually he stays later than this."

The newly transformed fly bowed his head. He was a man of middling height and weight with dark hair and entirely average features. His voice was a bit rough, retaining echos of the fly's buzzing wings. "My lord, he remains at work. But I deemed it more important to tell you what I learned now so you could prepare."

He quickly summarized the letter and conversation. The prince's face darkened in rage. "He seeks to cheat me? Him and his stupid whore of a daughter?" he hissed. "If that little bitch hadn't run away everything would have been perfect! She'd rather give up her throne than marry me? I'll kill her! I'll kill them all!" The second man sat forward, placing a firm hand on the prince's shoulder. He was large, with long purple hair in a low side ponytail. His eyes were a deep grey, cold and hard as iron. He had the air of a warrior. When he spoke it was with a deep baritone and left no room for argument.

"Do not act hastily, Prince. Our plan can still come to fruition. The girl did not send the letter to the public, and the king wants to keep it that way. If we can get her, we'll have a strong card to play. If Jude rejects her and us, then we can quietly kill him and the ambassador. You marry the princess and take the throne. All we need is the girl."

The prince was nodding. "She's evaded our men so far. I don't like it. Linnaeus-he gestured to the fly man-and I will remain here, gathering information and planning. You will pick one or two others and bring her back yourself. Do not fail me." The warrior bowed his head. "Of course, lord."

The prince leaned back, smiling lightly. "Good. Now leave, both of you. I need to relax. Vent some frustrations. Tell the guard out front to send me a girl."

As they left, he swallowed down the remainder of his wine. By the end of the month, he'd have a new wife, a country, and all the power he could ever want. And he would make them all pay.


	11. Gone

**Hello everyone! Here I sit, past my bedtime because I work early tomorrow, but I just couldn't let a Thursday pass without giving you all a chapter. Please enjoy, and drop me a line!**

 **I did just reupload this chapter to fix an error-I put Natsu-nei when it is in fact Natsu-nii. Thanks to guest reviewer Ki for pointing it out!**

* * *

"Is everything ready?"

"It is."

"Good. We've spent too many days watching."

"Failure is unacceptable. We'll strike when it is time, and we will succeed. Until then, sit. We move out at twilight."

"Very well. Our lord the prince will be pleased. Do you think we'll get a reward?"

"Sit down and shut up. Be ready to strike."

* * *

Lucy woke up surrounded by warmth. She opened her eyes to a muscular chest barely an inch away. Her head pillowed on one bicep and the other arm was flung across her waist. Her legs were tangled with his. Her eyes traced up the chest, taking in a pointed chin, full lips, sharp cheekbones, and dark green eyes. Open, dark green eyes. Natsu's lips quirked seeing her own brown ones widen at the realization. His arm around her waist shifted to cuddle her closer. Her hand came to rest on his chest. He dipped his head just a hair as she lifted hers.

"Good morning." he whispered, voice husky.

"Hi." she whispered back, allowing her finger to trace one pec. He leaned in, ever closer. Her eyes began to close…

"Good morning!"

Natsu's head shot up, staring at the blue furred source of the voice. Lucy had the opposite reaction. She squeezed her eyes shut, ducked her chin in a pout, and broke out of Natsu's hold to flop over and curl into the fetal position. That fucking cat. Still curled in a ball, she reflected that she wasn't just angry with Happy. She was angry at all of their supposed "friends" in the guild.

It had been a week since the first mission and girls' night. After the girls had beaten Natsu black and blue and Wendy had steadfastly refused to heal him until evening, "For your own good Natsu-nii, you have to learn from your mistakes!" they'd all gone to the guild for pancakes. Natsu had pouted next to her all morning, though he perked up significantly watching Mira throw Bixlow across the room for raiding the bar last night. How she knew it was him was a mystery no one questioned. Lucy thought Natsu would be upset about her revealing their circumstances to the guild's female population, but it appeared the men now knew as well. Huh. Maybe they'd had a fun guys' night, too. She wondered what they'd gotten up to. Regardless of the how, the entire guild now knew the story of her flight and subsequent week in the hoard. They also seemed to have formed the collective opinion that Natsu and Lucy were a couple. She'd talked to the women about her feelings-an act she now mildly regretted, because suddenly she couldn't go anywhere without having at least one guild member hiding in the shadows or under a bar stool, whispering words of advice or encouragement. She was sure they meant to be nice, but if they really wanted to help then a little alone time would do wonders!

The guys weren't nearly as supportive. She'd caught more than one jealous look as Natsu had sat too close or flung an arm around her shoulder. They seemed to pop up with just as much regularity as the girls, however. She suspected they were hopeful that Natsu would make an ass of himself and get rejected.

And then when they came back to the hoard at night to eat dinner and sleep, there was Happy. Constant chatter, teasing, and absolutely _no time alone with Natsu._ If she didn't know better she'd think it was a conspiracy!

Still curled around a pillow, clutching it with a death grip, she thought about the moment they'd had at the guild three days ago. Almost had.

* * *

 _Lucy sat at the bar, chatting with Lisanna about the next mission the Strauss siblings planned on taking. They were discussing the pros and cons of travelling by rail vs flying in their takeover forms, when Kinana paused next to them on her rounds of the bar. "Could one of you girls grab me some vermouth? It's in the storage closet in the back hallway-everyone just wants martinis today!" Lisanna started to get up, but Lucy stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Let me! I'd be happy to grab it." She hopped off her stool and hurried to the back._

 _She was hurrying, not wanting to leave Kinana hanging, and so she didn't think anything of the closet door being partially open already. She just went through it at top speed, already scanning shelves. Consequences for her inattention were swift; she slammed into someone, tripping them both and causing the other person to spill a significant amount of brownish liquid on her. Gasping, she looked up into startled green eyes and spiky pink hair. Of course. Natsu. Who was apparently skulking about in the closet with an open bottle of...chicken stock? What the hell?_

 _He gaped down at her. "Lucy! Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Here, let me dry you off!" He started running his heated hands over her body. Squealing about impropriety, she impulsively slapped him across the face. She hadn't really meant to connect that hard, but his head had snapped to one side and in his startled state his hands had flared up. And set her shirt on fire._

 _She panicked, ripping it off and stomping it into a charred mess on the floor. "Natsu! You moron! Now I'm shirtless in a damn closet and I smell like poultry! What the HELL?" She threw her arms up as she turned to face him. And goggled. At some point while she'd been engaged in firefighting, he'd stripped out of his shirt, which he now held out to her. But as she'd reached out to take it, he'd pulled it back slightly. His eyes raked down her body._

" _Sorry, Luce. Mira needed some for the kitchen, so I volunteered. Didn't expect you to come flying through the door like that." He grinned. "Not that I'm sorry about it." She huffed. "You give me that shirt right now, Natsu Dragneel! This is your fault" He chuckled, eyes twinkling, and wiggled it at her._

" _What makes you think you have a right to it? Last I checked, you were the one who ran through the door, slammed into me, and hit me in the face and startled me while I was trying to help. I only took this off so you wouldn't feel lonely as the only shirtless person." The smirk on his face was too much. She lunged for him, grabbing at the shirt. He laughed outright, holding it up over her head, so she unleashed a series of rapid fire pokes to his stomach. She thought she might've bruised her fingers, but it was worth it to see him double over and gave her the chance to snatch the clothing out of his grasp. He gave chase as she ran around the shelves, trying to orient the crumpled cloth to put it on. Before she was able, he tackled her around the waist and sent them both to the floor. He turned at the last moment, taking the brunt of the fall. Lucy landed on him, the shirt tumbling to the floor beside them. Natsu's arms were very warm on her waist. She froze, looking down at him. One of his hands slowly came up, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear._

 _The door slammed open and Mira stepped inside, freezing at the scene before her. "Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry, you two! I just came to see where Natsu was because I needed the chicken stock..hahaha...oh, here it is!" She backed out the door, hearts in her eyes. "Don't let me stop you, now! I just can't wait to tell my godchildren how they were conceived!" The door closed firmly behind her but they could still hear her voice, overly chirpy. "Don't worry about me! I'm just headed back to the kitchen now! Giving you plenty of privacy!" They did not hear any footsteps heading to the kitchen. Natsu sighed, letting his head fall back onto the floor with a thump. At the noise a tiny squeal sounded outside the door. Lucy rolled off Natsu, grabbing the shirt as she went. She grabbed a bottle of vermouth and reached for the door. Natsu's hand on her arm stopped her._

" _Just so you know, Lucy...I think you smell delicious."_

 _He'd said it loudly enough for Mira to hear, and as they walked out of the closet (Lucy's face a beet red, Natsu wearing a shit eating grin instead of his shirt) they had to step over her passed-out, lovestruck form._

* * *

Back in the cave, Lucy sighed. Well, there was nothing to gain by pouting about it. She rolled herself out of bed and headed into the bathroom to wash up.

Natsu watched her go from where he was starting a fire in the grate. God, he was going insane. He was still trying to reign in his dragon instincts; though he was 98% sure Lucy was into him (if the extreme jealousy of the other guys was any indication), he didn't want to scare her by coming on too strong. They'd known each other for less than a month and the first 30% or so didn't exactly recommend him. He wasn't even really sure what he wanted from her; he just knew that he couldn't let her go. Dragons didn't mess around when it came to things like this, so he was hoping that she would initiate as much as possible. But he still found himself getting drawn into the chase at least four times a day. He reflected irritably to himself that Lucy wasn't exactly helping-she seemed to be just as into their game of cat and mouse as he was. It seemed they were both started to get fed up with it, though, as the sexual tension ratcheted ever higher. And now that it appeared they were finally at a breaking point...Constant. Cockblocks.

If the guys weren't so disorganized, he would suspect a conspiracy. Hell, they might be envious enough that they'd actually done it. He'd overheard Laxus ask Mira a little too innocently if she'd found out where he'd got to after the debacle in the storage closet. Sparky the Lightning Bitch had probably seen them both head back that way and nudged Mira back with a casual sentence about Natsu drinking the chicken stock on his way back (it had only been open so he could identify the smell! All the labels looked the same to him). Natsu would have to pay him back for that. Maybe setting the back of his pants on fire next time he tried to talk up Mira?

Natsu sighed, stoking the flames up higher and taking a bite, his eyes on the bathroom door. What was taking her so long? Maybe a shower? What he wouldn't give to join her. Maybe if Happy hadn't interrupted them this morning, he could have! Natsu shot a rather dark look at his best buddy and compatriot in chief. Before all this, he would have said that Happy was the ultimate wingman. He had wings, for christ's sake! But all week, every time Natsu thought he'd shaken off the bro code violators at the guild in the safety of his hoard…Happy was there. Taking another angry slurp of the fire, Natsu thought back to a couple evenings ago.

* * *

 _They were relaxing in the hoard. Lucy was reading an old book she'd found while cleaning out a gold-inlaid chest, Natsu was creating a sculpture from partially melted gold, and Happy was...where was Happy? Natsu carefully looked around, trying not to be too obvious in case Lucy looked up. Finally he heard a clatter from the front of the hoard and some chewing. Happy must have broken into one of his stashes of fish he kept hidden in various piles. Knowing him, he'd stuff himself and then sleep it off. That gave Natsu at least three hours of uninterrupted Lucy time. And he knew just how to use it._

" _Hey, Luce. That book looks really good and all, but I was thinking. The weather isn't gonna be this good forever. We should go to the wading pool!" She slowly looked up from her book, swimming up to meet him from the depths of her fictional world. "Huh? Outside? I dunno, Natsu. This book…is really good..." her head dropped back towards the pages, and he realized he was going to lose her. He crossed the room in a bound, laying a hand over the words and breaking the spell. "But the sky is completely clear tonight. Perfect for stargazing." he wheedled. That did the trick. Lucy's eyes brightened and she marked her spot with a velvet bookmark he'd gotten who knew where. She slipped into the bathroom to change as Natsu fidgeted impatiently, and came out in a red satin robe covered in intricate golden embroideries. He didn't mind waiting so much if he got to see her dressed in his hoard. She flipped her hair off her shoulder and smiled at him. "What are we waiting for? Let's go."_

 _The sky was clear as he'd promised, but Natsu couldn't imagine a reason to look at the stars when the brightest one was right in front of him. Knowing she was watching, he slowly peeled off his shirt before dropping his pants, leaving him in briefs. He allowed his wings and tail to come out and his skin to dapple with scales. He liked how the water sparkled on his scales and Lucy had complimented his wings before. He'd found himself showing off his half form whenever he had the chance around her. He stepped into the water, then turned back to look at her._

 _As though she'd been waiting for his gaze, Lucy slowly let the robe drop to the grass, revealing an awfully tiny white bikini. Natsu was suddenly very glad he'd gotten in the water first. As it was, he had to quickly sit down when she lifted her arms to tie her hair into a bun, showcasing her figure. She stepped into the pool with him, and for a few moments they were both silent, soaking in the beautiful evening. Natsu caught himself eyeing her throat, bared as she looked up at the stars. He stifled a groan. His briefs were growing extremely uncomfortable. He needed an excuse to get closer. His tail flicked out under the water and carefully encircled her ankle. Swiftly tightening the grip, he yanked her underwater and across the spring toward him before letting go._

 _She broke the surface shrieking a string of obscenities that she couldn't have learned in a castle but he wasn't really listening, more interested in the way her chest heaved and her cheeks turned red. He was more interested still when she crossed the rest of the distance toward him and started pounding on his chest. That broke him from his trance._

" _You stupid piece of shit half-baked dragon wannabe! I'll show you to-oop!" Lucy squeaked as he grabbed her wrists and pinned them behind her, at the same time forcing their bodies close._

" _Hey now, punching isn't nice. You'd think a princess would know that."_

" _I'm not a princess anymore. But defending oneself is sometimes necessary whatever one's station." she sniffed, turning her face away with all the dignity she could muster._

" _Well isn't that what I'm doing? Defending myself?"_

 _She whipped her head back around and glared. A gleam came into her eye that made Natsu a bit nervous, before hooking one foot around his own and yanking, sending them both splashing into the water with her on top. In the commotion he let go of her wrists and she rolled away from him, giggling. His tail reached out and snagged her around the waist, pulling her back as she shouted with laughter. Twisting, he caged her against the side of the pool, tail still wrapped around her, wings stretching to enfold them into their own little world._

" _Don't go thinking you can get away from me, Princess." he murmured. She'd stilled, looking up at him, and he could see the stars reflected in her eyes. He held himself back, wanting desperately to taste her but wanting her to come to him. She studied his face a moment, then edged almost imperceptibly nearer. He waiting. She brought her face yet closer to his, he could feel her breath on his face, her eyes were slipping shut, his heart stuttered in his chest-_

 _And his forehead slammed into hers as a weight dropped out of the sky directly onto his head. Both of them yelled in surprise and pain, pulling apart. Eyes watering, Natsu reached up and pulled Happy off of his salmon locks. The Exceed looked overjoyed, holding three large salmon in his arms._

" _Natsu! Look what I found in my northern stash! Aren't they beautiful! I'm going to eat two, but I want you to help me pick one for Charle! Then Lucy can cook it the way she likes and help me wrap it and I'll give it to her at the festival this week! She'll have to accept it, right?" The cat beamed at him and Lucy, then frowned. "Why are your foreheads all red? Were you guys hitting each other?"_

 _Natsu took a deep breath, trying to get himself under control before he murdered his best friend. He was still rock hard under the water, and watching Lucy rub her head and pout was not helping. Before he could respond she reached forward and plucked Happy out of his arms._

" _Come on. I'll help you cook it. It was getting a little hot in here for my tastes, anyway." Picking up her robe and folding it over her arm, she glanced over her shoulder at her last line. She winked, then turned back to Happy and walked away, adding what seemed to him an excessive amount of sway to her hips. Watching her disappear into the hoard, Natsu let out an explosive breath and sank back into his seat. He was way too pent up after that. If he went back inside right now he'd probably attack her without warning. Frustrated, he tore off his briefs and threw them across the garden. Wrapping his hand around himself, he let himself imagine it was Lucy. He was going to be out here awhile._

* * *

Natsu grumbled, still snacking on the fire as he glared at the prettily wrapped fish on the sideboard, ready for Happy to present to Charle at the festival today. He was praying she'd take it so that Happy would stay with her for most of the day. He loved his buddy, but he was feeling less than charitable toward him at the moment.

Lucy appeared back out of the bathroom. "Natsu! What are you doing? I need that fire to make breakfast!" Glancing down, he realized that he'd eaten his feelings down to a few glowing coals. He threw a few logs back on and spat fire at them. "Sorry Lucy!" he chirped, heading into the bathroom she'd just vacated.

She tsk'd at him lightly before pulling out eggs and bacon. "Don't forget the summer festival today, Natsu. I put your nice clothes on the counter already, wear those!" He saluted before closing the door. "Yes, ma'am!"

* * *

Two hours later, Natsu, Lucy, and Happy touched down by the guild.

"You know, Luce, we should try getting you a flying spirit or wings or something. You can't expect me to do all the work all the time." Natsu made a show of rolling his shoulders and grimacing. Lucy glared.

"Maybe if you didn't live out in the middle of nowhere, it wouldn't be an issue!" She stomped away to change, not trusting a nice outfit to the winds. She wouldn't put it past Natsu to drop her just to get a glimpse of her underwear. Happy flew past her with his gift, and she snagged him by the tail.

"Happy! Remember what we talked about, ok? I'm sure she'll spend the day with you if you treat her nicely and are a little less, ah, exuberant than usual." He beamed at her and nodded. "Aye!"

Natsu chuckled and favored her with a smile. "It was nice of you to help him out like that. Hurry up and change so we can go eat all the festival foods!"

She rolled her eyes at his bottomless stomach but went to change anyway. He'd cleaned up nice, she had to admit. Dark slacks paired with a navy button down shirt with unobtrusive slits in the back so he could bring out his wings without issue went nicely with his tanned skin and pink hair. He'd rolled the sleeves and popped the first few buttons before winding his scarf loosely around his throat. It wasn't the food she wanted to be eating, not when he looked like that. Shaking off her thoughts, she entered the private lounge tucked off to the side of the guild. It was reserved for the girls; the boys had one on the other side. She found that half the guild women had the same idea as her and were in various states of undress. She was welcomed by a chorus of greetings and cheerfully began assisting Lisanna with pinning Levy's curls up away from her face.

Nearly an hour later, everyone was ready and they all flooded into the guild together, ready to charm the pants off their respective partners. Lucy was no exception and she felt a victorious thrill as Natsu's eyes swept over her. Her outfit complimented his own-a white sundress with a navy border that hit just above her knees, matched with high navy stockings and a warm sweater for when it got cool. For now the sweater was folded in her bag and the dress only enhanced her generous cleavage. She held out her arm and Natsu took it, swallowing hard. They stepped out to the festival with the rest of the guild.

Magnolia was a burst of color and sound. The town square and main streets were filled with stands and people out to celebrate summer. At least a dozen different delicious scents wafted into the dragonslayer's nose. He was itching to taste them all and wasted no time dragging Lucy over to a tempura stand. They both groaned as they sank their teeth into the fried vegetables and seafood.

After stuffing their faces at four different stalls, it was time for games. They ran into Alzak and Bisca at a firing range, and Natsu attempted to arm wrestle Elfman. When he lost embarrassingly quickly, Lucy pulled out Taurus to avenge him. Spirit and man clasped hands and strained against each other for the better part of five minutes. Eventually Taurus got distracted watching a scantily clad festival goer walk by, and Elfman managed to slam his hand onto the table, breaking the furniture in half. Natsu and Lucy hightailed it onto the next street, leaving poor Elfman to handle the distraught game runner. They found Gray manning an ice rink (and found Juvia slicking the surface underneath any pretty girl's skates, making her fall and subsequently leave-Lucy quickly suggested they find another booth). Happy waved as he floated by with Charle and Wendy. They went in a house of mirrors and chased each other around, then fought desperately to find a way out when they realized that Erza was in the house with them and had taken the many reflections of herself to be enemies necessitating destruction. Avoiding flying glass, they ducked into the back of the next tent to discover Cana telling fortunes for a shot of liquor. On the main street again, Jet and Droy argued about who would take Levy on the rides; however, Levy was nowhere to be seen. When this was pointed out, the two members of Team ShadowGear squawked and stumbled about, calling for her desperately. Natsu and Lucy joined in the search and it was eventually discovered that Gajeel had slipped by and stolen her while the other men weren't looking. They were found on the Tilt-a-Whirl, Levy screaming with joy in Gajeel's ear while he tried not to puke over the side. Down yet another street bursting with colorful awnings and streamers, Reedus was painting faces. Natsu got red scales surrounding his eyes and dusting across his cheekbones, sprinkling down across his jawline. It was similar to his half dragon form, but Reedus had used a paint that glowed a fiery red and added a large black crack running across his face, making him look rugged and dangerous. Lucy received deep blue and gold stars sweeping down one side of her face and neck to dance across her shoulder. Determined to win her a prize, Natsu tried to toss rings onto bottles. He was positive the game was rigged-he _knew_ his aim was better than that-but only managed to land one ring, to his embarrassment. But one ring got him a small prize, and he picked out a blue silk flower that matched her stars and tucked it in behind her ear.

By this point, the sun was setting, casting orange light across the town. Everyone lined up for the parade, cheering. Fairy Tail always had a spot near the front, and with Erza leading the way in her Heaven's Wheel armor the mages danced down the street. Lucy had never had so much fun! She cracked her Flueve D'Etoiles and called Gemini to imitate various people in the crowd. Loke had come on his own and dazzled the crowd by juggling balls of light. She looked back at Natsu and her steps faltered a moment. He'd stripped off his shirt and given it to Happy for safekeeping, and tied his scarf around his waist. He was dancing, allowing his fire to twist around him as he moved. He'd kept himself entirely in his human form and his face paint glowed, reflecting the flames. He was beautiful. Then he looked at her and grinned and she had to turn away and hurry forward before she did something completely embarrassing, like trying to kiss him on a street full of people while he was on fire.

The parade meandered on another half-mile, and Lucy used most of it to try and calm down, only to fail when she'd catch another glimpse of the firedancer behind her. By the time it was over, night had fully fallen. Lucy thought that the festival was ended, but people flooding past her to the open plain just outside of town suggested that there was one last act to come. She shivered lightly in the cooler air and fumbled for her sweater, only to have a warm arm flung around her shoulders.

"C'mon Luce. Let's go find a spot to watch the fireworks." Natsu led the way, picking through the crowd. Near the edge of the field they found an old apple tree and settled beneath it's branches. Lucy shivered again, and again tried to pull out her sweater, but Natsu picked her up without a word and settled her in between his legs, holding her gently. Three weeks ago this would have been cause for outrage, but now she snuggled into him. As the first firework exploded overhead, his fingers traced down her arm and clasped her hand. She shifted, glancing back. He wasn't looking at the colors overhead, instead staring down at her with an intensity that made her blush. She twisted back until she was halfway facing him, and reached a hand up to dance across the scales Reedus had painted. Under her fingers, his skin morphed, and the real scales pushed themselves out almost exactly where they'd been brushed on. With the addition of the paint, they glittered in the moonlight. His free hand came up and caught at hers and she smiled, tracing down his jaw. A low, almost inaudible growl sounded. She felt it more than heard it. His arm snaked around her waist and pulled her closer. They were so close, but he seemed to be waiting for something. Her, she realized. He was waiting for her. So she closed the distance and lightly pressed her lips to his.

The touch was electric. Why hadn't they done this before? He deepened the kiss, pulling her to face him completely. Her arms went around his neck, one hand up into his hair. He groaned, one hand at the back of her head and the other gripping her around the middle. His tongue swiped out and she responded to the age old dance move, a willing partner. Gasping and soft moans were punctuated by the boom of fireworks and the cheers of the crowd. Natsu pulled her up, never breaking the kiss, and she straddled him as his hand dropped heavily from her waist to her thigh, sliding up under the fabric to grip her bare skin. He nipped her lower lip and a wash of heat raced through her. Without thinking about it, she ground down on him. He broke the kiss, throwing his head back with a strangled curse. Lucy liked that. A lot. So she did it again, and this time he rolled them over to pin her to the earth and kiss her with a mad passion. He'd turned the tables and she whimpered as he ground into her. One hand came up to cup her breast and he started kissing down her jawline to her shoulder, following her stars. She arched up as he bit one.

A child's cry hit them both like a bucket of icy water. Lucy remembered that they were in the middle of a field during a festival. Natsu didn't particularly care where they were, but a vision of Wakaba and Macao finding them and oggling Lucy as he made her squirm popped into his head, and reluctantly he sat up, bringing her into his arms. At some point the fireworks had ended, and only a few stragglers were still crossing the field toward the lights of Magnolia. They were very nearly alone. He looked at Lucy, picking out her flush in the moonlight.

"I...I don't want to stop." Her voice was the barest whisper and it nearly unleashed the beast inside him.

"Neither do I," he said hoarsely, "but…you deserve better than a field." He brushed some of her hair back into place. Miraculously, her flower was still behind her ear. "Whatever claims you gave up, you aren't some peasant girl and I don't want to treat you like one."

Her eyes, looking up at him, held a sultry gleam he hadn't seen before and made his cock damn near explode out of his pants. She ran one hand down his still bare chest.

"What if I wanted to be a peasant girl? For tonight?"

God, she was going to be the death of him. He cupped her cheek, eagerly leaning in to grant her wish.

A sudden, strong gust of wind slammed into them, making Lucy squeal. Her flower he'd gotten her dislodged from her hair and soared away, bright under the stars. Lucy reached after it and missed. "Natsu! My flower!" She sounded devastated and he did what any sensible man would do: dumped her on the ground and ran after it.

"Don't worry, Luce!" he yelled, darting after the silly decoration. "I'll get it back for you! Some flower ain't getting away from me!" Except that damn thing was getting away from him. The stupid wind kept it just out of his grasp, leading him a merry chase as he jumped and weaved through the meadow. Finally, the wind died and he snatched it, turning to triumphantly run back across the field.

But when he got back to the apple tree, no one was there. Just Lucy's bag, tipped over with her sweater, the one she'd never put on because Natsu was there to keep her warm, spilled out over the grass. His heart dropped like a stone.

"Luce? Lucy! LUCY!" He dropped to the ground on all fours, frantic, sniffing the air, the dirt, the tree. Ten feet away from her bag, he found it. It was her scent, mixed with two others. Closing his eyes and focusing, he sensed unfamiliar magic. One reminded him a bit of Wendy-wind magic. They must have seen the opportunity to blow something of Lucy's away, knowing he would go after it. It was a clever trick. The other magic was odd, the sense of it somehow eluding him. It drove him mad for a moment, and then he realized that was the point of it. It must be some kind of reflection or warping magic like that asshole Midnight used. It wasn't Midnight's, though. This was a quieter power, one used less to instill terror than to hide and deceive. It would make tracking them absolute hell. But track them he would, because he could smell one thing loud and clear.

Lucy's fear.

* * *

 **DUN DUN DUN. Finally got some action! Only to be interrupted by the biggest cockblock of all...a kidnapping. I'm sure we all have at least a mild idea of who might be behind that. Looks like it's ass kicking time! See you all next week.**


	12. To Argyle

**Hi everyone! Here is your latest update on A Dragon's Slave! There was going to be more to this chapter, but it was getting long, I was getting tired, and I found a nice cliffhanger as a stopping point-because by now you all know how I love leaving you on the edge of your seats for another week. Also: over 100 reviews and 200 follows? Thanks so much, guys! Knowing you're all out there makes me stick to the Thursday deadlines I've set. Enjoy this week's adventure!**

* * *

Despite the lateness of the hour, the guild still held a double handful of members relaxing over a glass of wine after the festival. A murmur of conversation ran through the room, but for the most part the guild was relaxed after the excitement of the day. That all changed when Natsu slammed through the doors. His eyes were wild, his hair a mess, and flames licked up his arms. He was in half dragon form, and one clawed hand gripped the door frame hard enough to crack it. A heartbeat passed in dead silence before he opened his mouth.

"They took Lucy."

Then the uproar started. Guild members swarmed Natsu, pulling him inside and badgering him with questions. Half of them started for the doors, clearly ready to tear the town apart in their search. Kinana started serving drinks at record speed.

Erza was the first to the guild entrance, swords at the ready. As she pulled the door open, a massive hand whooshed past her to close it with a resounding bang that echoed through the hall, quieting everyone. The Master stood on the bar, arm stretched across the hall.

"That's enough!" he shouted. "There is nothing we can do for Lucy without a proper plan! Natsu, tell us what happened. Quickly." Natsu sat heavily on the stool Lisanna pushed over to him and threw back the shot of whisky Kinana slid his way. He was clearly deeply shaken. When he spoke, it was halting, but gained speed as he continued.

"We…it was after the fireworks. We were sitting under the tree in the field and all of a sudden there was this crazy wind. It, um, it blew her flower away. From her hair. I went running to get it for her so she wouldn't be upset, but the damn wind kept it away from me! When I finally got it and went back she was gone and her bag was thrown everywhere and her scent stopped really suddenly but there were traces of wind and warp magic but the warp magic twisted my nose up so bad I couldn't follow it and now she's scared and-"

The master's hand, only slightly smaller, fell onto Natsu's shoulder, cutting him off. "We'll get her back, son. You've got the entire guild behind you. You said you couldn't follow their scent?" Natsu shook his head forlornly. "You've got the best nose in the guild and are our prime tracker. If you can't follow it, we can assume no one can, and searching the area would be a waste of time. These guys clearly planned it and are likely already out of town. The good news is, we know that this is either her father or the prince. Which means we know where she'll be sometime tomorrow."

Levy stood from the back of the room. "If I had to guess, I'd say this is the work of the prince. He was behind the last attempt and now that we've sent her abdication letter, he stands to gain the most from this. Without her, he's nothing. We also can't let that letter get to the public, though I doubt King Jude will publish it so quickly. If the world knows she's no longer their princess, Tristan has no reason to leave her alive. I've been doing a little research and I believe he's staying in the Argyle palace right now. It's likely he'll sneak Lucy in there. Her father wouldn't think to look for her in the palace and he won't want her far away. She's been too slippery for that." Grim nods from her fellow members punctuated her speech, and Erza stood at the end of it. "Then we must go to the Argyle palace!"

Before the final word was out of her mouth, Natsu was headed for the door. Once again, the master's giants magic came in handy, plucking him back up.

"Natsu! You cannot leave right now!" The fire wizard struggled, tail slashing at the wizard saint's fingers. "Lemme go, Gramps! If I leave now I'll beat em there!" The old mage stared him down. "Boy. You are exhausted. If you take on your full dragon form now, by the time you get there you'll be worth nothing to Lucy. Aside from that, if a giant dragon lands in the middle of town, do you think they'll take Lucy to the palace? We need to wait until she's there and then sneak in, or you'll never find her! Now, how many people can you carry? And you, Gajeel."

Natsu closed his eyes tightly, mind racing. After a moment his shoulders sagged. They were right. The best way to find her was to go to where they know she would be taken. "Ten. I can carry ten comfortably." The master nodded, looking to Gajeel. The iron dragon crossed his arms. "I'd also have no problem carrying ten. Fifteen, if they're all the size of Shrimp here. Gihi!" Levy glared and smacked him on the arm.

"It's decided then. We meet here at first light to suit up and go get Lucy back. Dragons, you need all the sleep you can get. Wendy, if you could help them with a sleeping spell. Everyone that wishes to join the rescuing party, over here. We have some planning to do before tomorrow."

* * *

 _Thump…..thump…..thump….thump_

Lucy's eyes opened slowly. What was that noise? Why was it so dark? The hoard was usually quiet and dimly lit by a few long-lasting torches. Was this Happy playing a practical joke? Waking up further, she took a deep breath, smelling brine and tasting the salt in the back of her throat. It burnt out an acrid chemical taste that she'd barely realized was there. Turning her head and squinting, she made out a few crates and coils of rope. The rhythmic thumping continued. Then it clicked, and last night all came rushing back. Her last glimpse of Natsu bounding away after her flower as she giggled, then the sudden terror of hands grabbing her and pulling her away, her bag tumbling over as she grabbed for it, for anything. Her assailant dropped one hand over her mouth, the chemical-laced cloth covering her airway. His other arm wrapped around her and grabbed her keys, holding them in an iron grip. Her arms flailed and she landed an elbow to his side. Aside from a grunt, it did nothing whatsoever. With her last vestiges of consciousness, she'd seen another man in front of them casting a wind spell, chasing her flower across the field, and with it, her hope.

Now finally awake, she appeared to be in the hold of a boat. Well, more of a crawlspace, really. It was cramp and dark and wet. The thumping must be the waves slapping up against the hull. She was slumped on a pallet in a corner. Lucy forced herself to sit up, putting a hand to her head. In doing so, she noticed the chains. They were thick and clearly magic negating. The bastards had taken her keys, too. Each wrist was manacled, both connected to the wall by heavy chains she had no hope of breaking. Looking at them more closely, she saw patterns engraved into the steel. She was no language master like Levy, but she recognized a few. Twisted concealment? That seemed weird...Hidden reflection? She thought harder, dredging up memories of last night. After a moment it hit her. Warp magic. The power to twist and hide. It had probably hidden her trail from Natsu; that was the only reason he hadn't attacked already, she was sure. It seemed strong. Strong enough that, layered into the chains, it could reflect any power she tried to put out back into her, stopping any magical attempt she might've made at escape. Presumably her spirits were also unable to find her. It was a very thorough piece of work.

Well, shit.

Going over each link of the chains, she saw they were exquisitely crafted. There would be no getting the manacles off her wrists. Her best chance, she thought, was the old, half-rotted wood the chains were bolted too. Reaching up under her dress, she found the cute lacy garter belt high up on her thigh. Even if no one saw it (and especially if Natsu might see it) a girl had to accessorize. More importantly, she pulled out from under it the dagger Erza had gifted to her last week "to aid in her safeguarding her virtue." She hadn't been particularly interested in her virtue, but she found herself thanking the redhead all the same as she started painstakingly carving chunks of wood out of the hull.

* * *

As first light broke over Magnolia, the guild was a hive of activity. Natsu and Gajeel emerged from the infirmary where they'd spent the night, half-forced into slumber by Wendy. They were firmly sat at the bar and handed several plates piled high with protein: fuel for the day ahead. Meanwhile, Laki supervised the loading of two large wooden contraptions she'd spent the night working on. They looked like large empty barrel hoops with a box dropped down from each one on a chain. Natsu eyed them suspiciously before realizing what they were. Harnesses. The barrel hoops would fit around his dragon sized chest, and the chain would allow the box to hang below his stomach. He could see seats molded into the bottom and sides of the box with leather straps attached for the rescuers to hold on to. It was smart. He immediately planned to burn it at the end of the rescue, so that he could never be used as the guild pack horse. But with Lucy on the line, he'd acquiesce. Once. Having scarfed down his meal, he threw his pack into the cube along with an extra set of clothes. Then he unceremoniously stripped down to his boxers. He'd lose those when he changed, but he wasn't Grey and didn't feel like exposing himself to the entirety of the guild.

Stalking back out to the center of the yard, he stretched, hearing joints pop. Then he reached inside himself for his power. He felt it in his center as a warm flame, one that he fanned to an inferno as he pulled it up and through his body, poured it into every cell. Dimly, he felt his skin harden, his bones twist and crack as they were forced into new shapes. He felt his wings, tail, and claws appear, thicker and more prominent than they ever were in his half form. He felt the agonizing stretch of seemingly endless growth. But more than anything he felt the heat of his power roaring through him in it's most complex and beautiful form. A minute later, he was able to open his eyes.

It was always disorienting, gaining his full form. As a human used to viewing the world at one size, seeing everything so _small_ always threw him off for a bit. He also had to take a moment to get used to his strength, lest he crush a guildmate that wasn't the popsicle. He felt the breeze brush his scales differently, for they were not soft like skin, and had to adjust to not only seeing colors, but heat signatures as well. After a moment he carefully stretched his wings before rearing back and launching himself into the sky. In the space of a breath Magnolia was a speck below him and he launched himself toward the clouds, breaking through them to feel the sun on his face. Banking into a large turn, he noted another dragon, this one an iron grey, burst out of the cloud cover behind him; Gajeel, also stretching his wings. His need to find Lucy burned at him, but the journey would take until late afternoon, flying nonstop, and they would be literally holding their guildmates' lives in their hands. This pre-journey flight was necessary, so Natsu used it to try to clear his mind. They took a few more large turns then spiraled around each other into twists and dips. Natsu found his fangs bared in a smile. He couldn't wait until Wendy was strong enough to fully change. He was sure she would be more graceful than the both of them put together.

Finally warmed up, he tilted his body into a steep dive toward the guild, rocketing down before snapping his wings out, slowing his pace dramatically and causing several hats to fly off varying townspeople. He touched down gently, followed shortly by Gajeel. Now used to his size, he slipped on the harness, allowing Laki to make adjustments with her magic to snug it into place. The rescuers filed into their places in the boxes while Natsu tried not to be too impatient and take off before they were ready. Master Makarov stood by the door with the rest of the guild. He called upon his giant magic, growing until he rivaled the dragons at his doorstep in size. His voice boomed across the courtyard.

"Everything is ready. Bring our Lucy back! You have the might of the guild behind you."

With that, the dragons' wings snapped open and they launched themselves upward, toward Argyle. Toward Lucy.

* * *

"Yes!" The last of the wood had been carved out of the hull and the second chain popped free of the planks. Lucy was free! Well, she had no magical ability and was stuck on this boat still, but step one was complete. And, she reflected, tucking the rather worn dagger back into the garter belt, she had a couple handy maces. Gathering up the chains so that about a foot dangled from each hand, she crawled toward the trapdoor on the other side of the space. They must be on an awfully small ship if this led directly onto the deck, as she suspected. She could only hope it wasn't locked. Lucy pressed her ear to it, listening hard before gingerly pushing up. It opened! Carefully, ever so gently, she lifted it until there was an opening large enough to slip out of. Doing so, she rolled behind a stand of barrels on deck and peered out through a small space in between two of them. The trapdoor appeared to be on one end of a small boat, about 20 feet in length. It had two sails on it, both catching a suspicious amount of perfectly aimed wind. Glancing toward the prow, she saw one of the men from last night. He was tall and wiry, with long dark hair that flew in the gusts that swirled around him. He sat cross legged and his hand was held outward. His eyes were closed. He must be the wind mage that blew her flower away and sent Natsu on his wild goose chase last night, now tasked with getting the ship to Argyle as fast as possible. They had likely taken her to the coast on a magic-mobile using the warp man's power, then switched over to this man to take them around the coast and into one of her country's trading ports. Two strong mages could have her there by-she took a quick look at the sun-noon, if they'd started the journey right at midnight. It looked to be about seven so she had five hours before they landed. The shore wasn't too far, but with the chains still on her she'd drown the minute she went over the edge. Lucy frowned. She also needed her keys, and she didn't know where the other man was. She couldn't see him anywhere...uh-oh. Straightening, she turned slowly, to meet the eyes of a tall man with grey hair in a loose side braid. His scars and muscles marked him as a warrior, and she imagined she could feel the magic in her chains come alive at his nearness. He smiled tightly at her.

Well, shit.

Lucy moved fast to get the drop on the warrior mage. She swung the chain as hard as she could at him. It slammed into his face with a sickening crack and he dropped. Lucy wasted no time racing to the front of the ship, where the wind mage was still deep in meditation. Throwing one elbow around his neck and pressing a knee to his back, she grabbed his arm and pointed it at the shore, redirecting the wind. The man was too deep in his magic to react right away, and the boat turned toward the bank as he began to awaken. Just one more minute and it'd crash land onshore. 45 seconds….30…..a cord descended around her neck and pulled up and back, garroting her. She instinctively let go of the wind mage, who had begun to struggle against her. He stopped the wind and turned as she fought. At the brink of losing consciousness, the warp mage dropped her onto the deck, putting a boot on the back of her neck and pressing her into the wood.

The wind mage raged. "You little bitch! You think you can get away with some shit like this?! If the lord didn't need you, I'd fucking drop you overboard in those chains and watch you drown!" He drew back his foot and aimed a kick, but the warp mage leaned forward and punched him in the face, knocking him on his ass.

"Shut it, Samoon. Get the ship back on course. We cannot be late." The wind mage picked himself up angrily, but sat back down at the prow and lifted his arms again. The boat steered itself back into the current and picked up speed. The warp mage reached down and grabbed Lucy by the hair, lifting her off the deck. His cheek was a bloody mess from where she'd hit him with her chain. "That was well done, Princess. As a warrior, I respect it. But the only time you'll be leaving this boat is when I take you to see my lord. Until then I supposed you've earned a more uncomfortable trip."

He dragged her back to the trapdoor, jumping in. She struggled weakly, but the garroting had taken her strength and she still hadn't gotten her breath back. He snorted when he saw the wood dug out of the wall. "How did you do this?" He reached for her to look for weapons and she snapped her teeth at him. She couldn't let him find her knife! "The Heartfilias are known for their strong jaws." she rasped, hoping he bought the incredibly stupid lie. Apparently he didn't think girls in dresses could have weapons, because he looked at her canines appraisingly before pulling out another set of wall bolts that he attached to her chains, much closer to her wrists. He pulled one wrist up and drove the bolt into the wall with a hammer from his bag, before stretching her other arm the other way and attaching that as well. He then jumped back up on deck and closed the door. She heard a thump and some shuffling, and realized that he was sitting on it. Groaning, she let her head fall back against the wall. Her arms were already killing her from this position and her throat burned with each breath she took. Worse, she had no way out until they reached town. All she could do was wait.

* * *

Tristan walked down the hallway briskly, whistling. The message he'd received by way of communication lacrima this morning had put him in a fantastic mood. Even summons from the high honcho king himself couldn't make today bad. Walking past the guards to the study, he practically waltzed in. He felt his courtier's smile spread across his face as he bowed to Jude. He was sitting with that adviser he was so close to, what's his name...it didn't matter. Neither of them mattered, because by tomorrow this country would be his.

Jude stood, gesturing for him to sit. Tomorrow, he'd be sitting where Jude was. Well, probably not. The study was entirely too stuffy. He wasn't sure why Jude bothered to come in at all; didn't he have underlings for this? Wasn't this what underlings were _for?_ Running the place so he didn't have to?Regardless, he sat and turned all his attention to Jude, or the "for-now" king, as he liked to think of him.

"Prince Tristan. Thus far our attempts to find Lucy have come to naught-and as of several days ago we received this missive from her." The scrawny adviser handed him a piece of paper. Tristan was careful not to let their hands touch. It was the abdication letter. He already knew about it, of course, but he still felt anger rise up, reading her words. The words that had caused him to create this whole plan in the first place! Women. They just couldn't be happy with what they had. He kept his face smooth as he read, then leaned forward in his chair, affecting the image of a deeply concerned man.

"Your Majesty...this is terrible. Heartbreaking. Are you sure that it is from her?"

The adviser spoke up. "We are. It is in Lucy's hand and bore her seal."

The prince's eyes narrowed slightly. He hadn't asked the commoner to speak. "Well. Women-young ones especially-tend to be flighty. I'm sure when she is brought back she'll settle into her role nicely." He smiled tightly.

Jude frowned. "I'm sure she will once again become the princess she is meant to be. But right now, she will not be brought back by anything less than brute force, and she is her mother's daughter. A fighter. We have reached out to her, but after discussions with Zanada's king we have been forced to accept different means of diplomacy between our countries."

Tristain struggled to keep his image, that of a concerned citizen whose first priorities were his state-given responsibilities. "Yes, of course, I understand. It's just, I was very much looking forward to joining not only my country, but myself, with your family and nation, Jude." His voice oozed sincerity, but he could see the adviser frowning. Damn the man. He'd see him die slowly.

Jude nodded. "We were, as well. Namvere, if you please." The adviser reached into his robes and produced a paper. "We have spoken to your father, Prince, and it would be to everyone's benefit for you to remain here as a diplomat from Zanada, now that we will be in an alliance. You would have quarters here in the palace as well as anywhere you would like in the city, and many of our younger diplomats have chosen to marry into the ranks of the nobility here."

The message, to Tristan, was clear. " _Here is your pity prize. Even if Lucy does come back, you will never be King."_ He grinned, taking the offered paper. "But of course! An excellent solution. Now that I've been in your country for a month I feel that I know the people and customs better than another my father might send. I would be delighted. When might my duties start? I assume the treaty is not yet signed, and therefore a diplomat position is not in place. I would hate to overstep my bounds."

Jude tapped a paper on his desk, the treaty. "I will sign two copies of this tomorrow with Zanada's king watching over lacrima. We will send them by messenger and he will do the same next week, when it arrives. When we get our copy back, your duties as adviser and liaison will begin."

"I see. And the princess's abdication? Will that be made public? I imagine it will cause international shock waves."

Jude slowly shook his head. "I've written a letter to Lucy. Told her to come home to talk. I'm sure when she arrives we can work something out. Namvere has suggested to me that perhaps if she were able to make more of her own choices she would not have done something so drastic. I'm sure I shall hear back soon."

Tristan smiled, nodding. What a fool! The girl had run because Jude hadn't kept a heavy enough hand on her. He certainly wouldn't be making the mistake of offering her choices once she was under his thumb. But he supposed Jude wouldn't need to be worrying about that either. Standing, he bowed to the for-now king, ignoring the adviser thoroughly, and swept from the room. The princess better arrive on time. The treaty would be signed tomorrow morning, and he didn't have time to waste.

* * *

Hours later, the trapdoor opened. The light that followed the warp mage in was bright and direct, suggesting it was early afternoon. Water was held to Lucy's lips and she drank it down gratefully. Less exciting was the gag and cloth bag that was forced over her head when she was done. To her relief her arms were let down from the wall, easing the ache in her arms. They were shackled behind her and she was forced onto her stomach on the floor so her ankles could be shackled as well and hogtied to her hands. She felt herself being lifted and dropped into some kind of container, and the harsh sound of it closing and locks clicking told her she was in a trunk or crate. She supposed it was rather ironic. She'd stowed away in a box, and now she was being smuggled back into her home country in one. It was too small for her to roll around in to make noise and the hogtie and gag cut off any other ways she could have alerted others to her plight. She felt herself moving, the slight swaying as her captors walked making her nauseous. She took deep breaths through her nose. She was already dirty, smelly, and bruised; she would not be facing the prince covered in vomit as well.

After what felt like an hour she heard the muffled cries of the guard at the palace gates. They were taking her into the palace? That was either stupid or brilliant. No one would expect it, but there was a substantial risk of a servant or guard finding her. She could only hope they would. Another tortuous length of time passed in the trunk before she was finally set down. The lid was opened and the cloth pulled off her face. She found herself staring into the eyes of none other than Prince Tristan of Zanada, dressed to the nines and wearing the biggest shit-eating grin she'd ever seen.

* * *

 **Oh no! Tristan the creep finally has Lucy! And hey, we finally got to see into his head-not that we wanted to, cause ew.**

 **A couple notes:**

 **-The wind mage is named Samoon because a samoon (also called simoom) is a powerful wind in the Sahara that moves so much sand that it helps reshape dunes. It is described as "hot and whirling," like his temper, and means "poison wind," which seemed fitting.**

 **-Timeline is a bit confusing for the next couple chapters because our heroes and villains are split up. Lucy goes missing just after midnight. Natsu gets to the guild after his search at about 12:45. The Master recognizes that the kidnappers came prepared and forces the dragons to go to bed, and the rest of the guild stays up and prepares because they'll sleep on the way. They leave at about 7:30 am. That's about the same time Lucy wakes up and fights Warpy McWarrior and loses. Lucy and her new friends the kidnappers get to the palace at about 1pm. The dragons are still flying at this point, and will be for hours yet. Get ready for Fairy Tail to arrive outside the city around 6pm. If need be I'll post a timeline at the end of the other chapters too, so if they're a tad confusing timewise don't worry! I'll clarify it out here, where it won't screw up the narrative.**

x

 **That's all I have for you this week, friends! Next week will be action packed and hopefully someone will punch Tristan in the face. We'll find out!**


	13. Sneaking through Shadows

**Hey everyone! Sorry this is a day late-I wasn't happy with it and ran out of time yesterday. I'd rather make you all wait for something good than deliver something I didn't like. But you've waited long enough, so enjoy!**

* * *

Lucy stared up into the eyes of her betrothed, terrified and furious in equal measure. This asshole was the reason she'd run away from home and been attacked multiple times. Not to mention her friends had been hurt; that bothered Lucy far more than her own troubles. And now he had the gall to sit there and smirk at her?

Tristan motioned that she should be lifted out of the trunk, and pulled out her gag. The first thing she did was let him have it. "You! You ugly, traitorous, woman-beating scum! What do you want with me? Where are my keys?"

He grinned at her again, that maddeningly infuriating smirk, and pulled her keys out of a sack on the table. She went silent as he dangled them in front of her. "Now, love. I just want to talk to you. Can you believe how hard you've made it on me to just sit down with you for one simple talk?" She opened her mouth to reply hotly, but he jingled the keys again and she fell silent, sick with fear over what he might do to them. "It's unbecoming of a host not to allow his guest to clean up before speaking. These ladies," he gestured to three women who appeared in the doorway to the inner chambers, "will help you become presentable and then we will talk. I shall not harm your keys. However, if you try anything…" his eyes flicked to the table, and she saw with a lurch that a heavy hammer sat there. His meaning was clear. Lucy nodded stiffly, once, agreeing to his terms. A bath and some food would settle her in any case, make her more ready for this "talk."

Her chains were undone and the three women led her silently through the master bedroom and into the bathroom with its sunken bath and full length mirror. One, a dark haired brunette with deep black eyes, stationed herself by the door. Another, with deep green hair pulled into a French braid, went to draw a bath. The third faced Lucy. She had blue hair that reminded Lucy of Levy. Her eyes were far colder than Levy's could ever be, though.

"Princess. You should know that we are of Prince Tristan's personal guard. It is not only your keys that will be harmed should you attempt to escape." She waited until Lucy nodded, her own eyes hard. Then she went to assist the second woman with laying out bathing things. Lucy frowned lightly. She still had her knife and didn't want these three to know about it. Her gaze zeroed in on the decorative screen in a corner. She marched over to it.

"Where are you going, Princess? You can undress right here." Lucy summoned her royal arrogance around herself like a cloak. "I do not allow others to see me in the nude," she proclaimed. "My own maids knew to wait until I was in the water to turn around. I have been stripped of everything, but I plan on keeping my dignity." Then she stalked behind the screen like she owned it, hoping that display would keep them from following her. After a moment she was still alone and she let out a breath. She undressed quickly and hid the knife in a decorative potted plant. Then she wrapped a towel around herself and ventured back out. The handmaidens/guards rolled their eyes but turned their heads, and she slipped into the water gratefully. The water was perfect and the bubbles were high and smelled of jasmine. At least if she was going to be kidnapped by the ickiest man alive she was getting a bath out of it. Guardmaiden one stayed by the door, but two and three helped her scrub her back and hair and polished her nails. Fighters and beauticians, who would have guessed? After her bath, she was given a shift to change into, and again managed to slip the knife under it by pretending excessive haughty modesty. Then the guardmaidens pushed her into a chair, and number one took over her makeup, three did her hair, while two posted at the door. Her makeup was kept light and natural, while her hair was braided and curled into a bun at the nape of her neck. She was then dressed in a dress in a deep blue that showed off her shoulders, with long sleeves that nearly draped to the ground, and a skirt that was tight in the waist but flared around her legs. She looked every inch the princess she no longer was. Surely Tristan had heard she'd abdicated by now? Perhaps he didn't care. Once she was thoroughly dolled up, light silver manacles were locked onto her wrists. They gave her about a foot of range and her legs were free, but the magic suppressing spells were as strong as before.

When she was ushered back into the main room, a late lunch had been laid out on the table. Tristan lounged at one end. When she arrived, he stood and pulled out her chair with another disgusting smile. She could feel his eyes on her like physical hands. But she'd been raised a princess and it wasn't the first time she'd had dinner with a creep. Not the first one she'd negotiated at, either. So she lifted her chin and stared him down. He was handsome, she supposed. Eyes like a ferret, though.

He was drinking wine. She chose water. Guardmaiden two served her a plate, and she barely held herself back from jumping in Natsu-style. She was starving. But she ate like a lady. After they'd finished most of the meal, Tristan spoke.

"Well. I suppose we'd best get started, hmm?" She deigned to nod. He smiled. "I have a proposition for you, Princess Lucy...or should I say Lady?" She looked up sharply at that.

"So you know I abdicated. One wonders why I am here, then. Surely I can be of no use to you."

"Oh, but you can. Thus far, only your Father and a few trusted advisors know you've stepped down from your title. It's not been made public yet, and that gives us an opportunity. Your father and a few others are they only ones in on the secret. They want you to retract your statement, but they think it'll take time. So they've created a new treaty with Zanada."

Lucy delicately cut another bite of her pork. "If our countries have reached an agreement, then you hardly need me."

"Our countries don't need you. I do. What do I have in Zanada? My brother will take the throne and he already has several children. I certainly won't be ruling there. But here…"

"If you marry me, one day you will be king."

"Exactly."

She looked him in the eye. "I'm afraid you'll have to do without ruling, sir. I've no intention of remaining here and being a princess. Nor a queen. Threaten me all you like, I won't back down. Even if you break my keys, they will one day reform. It may take years and I may lose them," she swallowed hard, "but I will not allow a man such as you to rule this kingdom."

There was a beat of silence and she saw rage flare in his eyes, saw him fight to control it.

"Very well. I'll make things clear." he rasped. "You will marry me tonight, wedded and bedded whether you like it or not. If you make this difficult, I will send the assassins I've gathered after your father and his advisers. This time tomorrow the story will be spread that I rescued you from your kidnappers in Fiore, but they returned and murdered your father. By then we'll be lawfully wed and no one will be able to break our covenant. I'm aware your lovely new guild is too strong for me to send soldiers, so I will enact sanctions against Fiore unless they disband Fairy Tail. They're quite destructive, I'm sure our neighbors have been waiting for a reason for years. And yes, I'll smash your keys. Once all of that is done, I'll keep you to give me heirs and for my own amusement. So it's up to you. Reject me and watch lives be ruined. Or marry me, and know that everyone is happy except you. And who knows? You might be happy. I don't care to actually run a country-you're welcome to it, so long as it's wealthy enough to fund my lifestyle."

He smiled at her. It was the look of a man who knows he's backed his prey into a corner, and worse, he had. She could see no way out. Lucy thought about her guild, her country. She imagined her father and his advisers murdered in the halls, the guild hall crumbled into dust as its members fought to find a new home. She pictured her keys, broken, her contracts gone. Her spirits, picked up years later by a cruel master. She thought about the girl Tristan would marry and abuse. And she thought about her country. With her king, advisers, and princess dead, no one would be capable to run it. Certainly not this manchild. She hated to even think it, but the prince was right. The only way to save everyone...was to sacrifice herself.

Lucy lifted her chin. "You've made your point. I suppose I have no choice."

His eyes glittered and he took a sip of his wine. "I thought you'd come round. I've already written the vows. Mind you say them word by word." At her raised brow, he explained. "Celestial wizards never break a promise. It's a weakness of your kind. I've written a clause that promises you'll never harm nor undermine me. Among other things."

She shuddered, well able to imagine his 'other things.'

The Prince stood abruptly. "Wonderful! There's much to do still, and I'm to dine with your father tonight. I'm afraid while I'm gone you'll be a tad uncomfortable, love." The guardmaidens pulled her away from the table to the bedroom. Looking around, Lucy realized there was a chain and collar attached to one of the bedposts. Really? _Really?_ At least Natsu's was golden and had a design etched in and stretched and-was she really comparing Natsu's slave collar favorably to something? She had it bad for the dragon. And generally had it bad right now. She was locked into the collar and the manacle chains were attached to it, severely limiting her movement. All she could really do was sit on the bed and maybe scratch her nose were she so inclined. Guardmaidens one and two took up posts near the door. The prince wandered in, looking delighted at her situation. "Seeing you like this makes me all the more excited for tonight." he murmured into her ear as she sat stock still, trying not to cringe. "A kiss to wish me luck, then!" He yanked her hair back and pushed his lips onto hers, trying to slide his tongue into her mouth. She clenched her teeth, refusing to allow him in. He pulled back coldly. "You can be as frigid as you like now, after tonight you'll warm up to me. One way or another." With that he was out the door, leaving her to curl up on the bed and try her best not to think of the difference between now and last night, when she'd thought the world was laid out at her feet.

Out in the main room, Tristan turned to his advisors (or minions, as he liked to think). "Now that we have the girl agreed, everything else can be put in motion. Linneaus and Samoon, go find me a priest. Willing or not. Werfen," he pointed to the warp mage, "get your assassins together, but be quiet about it. Send them just before we start the ceremony. I want it all done at once. After the marriage is consummated, we'll take my new wife up to the study and she can help iron out the coronations. She'll be the only one to know all these tiresome Argyle customs."

Werfen frowned lightly. "Won't she be a bit off kilter from seeing the bodies? She believes we're leaving them alive. If she goes into shock she'll be useless for planning."

The prince shrugged. "The sooner she starts being a hysterical mess the sooner she'll be over it. No reason to hide it, really." He grinned again. This whole day had given him cause to smile. "And besides. It'll be fun"

* * *

The sun was halfway to the horizon when Fairy Tail finally touched down a mile outside the city limits. Natsu and Gajeel carefully lowered the crates down and waited, limbs trembling, for Laki to loosen the harnesses so they could slip out and shift down. Natsu's butt hit the dirt and for a moment he sagged. That was a tough flight, especially with such precious cargo. When he came once a year for his bribe, he usually flew in the night before under cover of darkness with a bag of food. He'd land 10 miles out, gorge himself, then sleep. He'd hate to show up to a party in his honor looking anything but impressive. Especially since he was supposed to be their one man army. He guessed now was the time to prove his loyalty by exposing a traitor. And then steal their princess away again, but whatever. Groaning, he pulled on the clothes Cana tossed him and started tearing into a bag of chicken legs. He could see Gajeel doing the same as everyone else hurried into some woods to relieve themselves.

After a moment, the rest of the rescue party was back. As the apparent spymaster of the group, Levy was on point. "Alright, everyone. Here's the deal. We'll split into teams and disguise ourselves so we can cover the city to gather information. It's likely Lu-Chan is in the palace, but that will be hard to get into and if Tristan's men know we're there, it'll be near impossible to get to her. They could move or kill her at a moment's notice so surprise is our best way forward. Warren will keep the teams connected. Natsu and Gajeel need to rest so they'll stay here for a bit-"

"-The hell I will!"

"-What was that, Shrimp?"

Faced with two very offended dragon slayers, Levy huffed. "Fine! But when you crash later, don't bitch to me about it!" she snapped.

With that, the teams prepared to enter the city. Though the dragons originally estimated that together they could carry 20, 16 people made up their group. Someone had pointed out that Tristan might see the guild as a threat to his plans and attack, so they'd cut the numbers down a bit. Lighter packs meant more speed, anyway. It was already fading into evening and by Levy's best guess, Lucy had been here for hours already. They needed to move. They were a rather motley crew. Aside from the usual suspects of Natsu, Grey, Erza, Wendy, Gajeel, Lily, Levy, Happy, and Charle, they'd also signed up the Strauss siblings, Laki, Cana, Juvia, Warren, and somehow, Vijeeter. No one was really sure how that had happened, but here he was.

The groups spread out to enter the city in different places to lessen any suspicion that might fall on them, as well as to try to find any clue as to Lucy's passage. Each quartet carried packs and bundles to look like travelers. In reality, the packs contained weapons and magic boosters. But first they had to get through a city and through what was sure to be a large number of guards at the castle. It was likely that none of them would be friendly toward rogue mages with weapons, dusty from travel. Nin-nin it was.

The first group consisted of Gajeel, Levy, Grey, and Juvia. Grey didn't look excited about it, but Juvia wouldn't work with anyone else and they sure as hell weren't putting Natsu with Grey. Gajeel pulled out his half form and carried Levy and Juvia while Lily dragged Grey along toward the coast. Juvia would tow them in safely through the water, allowing them to enter from the port side of town.

Group two was Wendy, Mira, Charle, and Warren. With three flyers in the group (Mira carried Warren), they sped around the city to approach it from the opposing side. Laki, Elfman, Lisanna, and Cana formed Team DrunkMan, and they set off directly toward the city's closest edge.

The final group was Natsu, Happy, Erza, and Vijeeter. Natsu took off like a rocket toward the city, diverging slightly from Team DrunkMan (two guesses on who compromised for that name), followed by Erza at a brisk run and Vijeeter being pulled along by Happy.

Entering the city, the Fairy Tail members pulled up their hoods and stuck to the shadows. Three teams had dragon slayers, and they immediately put their noses to the ground to try and pick up Lucy's scent. Their group members ran interference for anyone who might be suspicious of a cloaked figure crawling on the ground. It was Gajeel who caught a very faint whiff in the harbor. The wind had shifted, coming from the sea and rushing over the boats before sweeping across the pier. He turned, frowning, and started pacing back and forth to triangulate the smell. Eventually he narrowed it down to a rather dingy boat with a larger than normal sail. Levy stood on tiptoes to hiss in his ear "If they wanted to get here fast, the wind mage would make good use of that." He nodded, and they approached the boat. Juvia dropped them down into the water again, quietly towing them to the far side of the craft before lifting them onto its side. Gajeel followed his nose to the prow, where they were horrified to find dried blood splattered on the deck. Gritting his teeth and sniffing at it, Gajeel pronounced "Not her blood. Mostly, I think. I'm not as good as Salamander," it pained him to say it, but at least the pink haired moron couldn't sing like him. "But I'd say she got in a fight up here. Can smell her sweat and a little blood-mighta scraped a knee on the deck or somethin'."

He snuffled his way around the boat, eventually coming across a pool of someone else's blood next to a trapdoor. Pulling it up, they dropped in one by one. Grey remained on deck to watch their backs. In the hold, Levy wrote _light_ in the air. She and Juvia both took shuddering gasps at what they saw, and Gajeel had to remind himself that he had an iron stomach. There were chains embedded in the wall, far enough apart to make it obvious that Lucy had had her arms yanked cruelly to each side. They were high up enough that she would have been forced to kneel instead of sit, making her knees dig into the moist, rough wood. Gajeel stomped up to the wall, lifting one chain to inspect it. He noted a second set of chains in the corner and a pair of holes in the wall. Seemed Bunny Girl had gotten herself out of one set before she'd been strung up like a sacrificial criminal. Eyeing the metal, he noted the layers of magic built in, designed to send any power a person pushed out right back into them in a never ending cycle. The warp mage, then. Grunting, Gajeel took a bite. Gross. But he took another, and another, and soon both sets of chains were sitting firmly in his digestive tract.

About to help the girls out of the hold and update Grey, Warren's voice sounded in their minds.

" _Team DrunkMan got information on Lucy, and we need to hurry!"_

* * *

As the only team without a Slayer, Team DrunkMan was forced to search for clues in other ways. Cana, Lisanna, Elfman, and Laki pulled their cloaks further over their faces and began skulking around the market, hoping to pick up gossip about the prince or treaty with Zanada. Had they been sneaky it might have worked, but alas, Fairy Tail wasn't made for sneaking. After getting uncomfortably close to one too many groups and some alcohol mysteriously disappearing from a vendor's stall the market guards decided to confront the out-of-towners. Seeing them converge on the group's position, Lisanna gasped. "Guys! We can't get caught up in a brawl, we have to move! Go, go, go!"

She pushed the rest of the team in front of her, breaking into a run as shouts went up behind them. They sped down side streets, hoping to lose their pursuers, but the men kept up well. That's when Elfman saw it. "In here!"

They juked left and hurled themselves through a side door of a small church, tucked out of the way in a rather lovely little courtyard. Locking the door behind them and holding as still and silent as possible, they heard the guards run by. The four let out the breath they'd been holding, but before anyone could say anything they heard the sounds of muffled shouting from further inside the church. As one, they moved down the hall toward the argument. As they got closer the noise resolved itself into a threatening tone and a pleading one. They reached the door to the chapel and Cana gently turned the handle and edged it open. Four eyes lined up with the crack in the door to watch the scene inside.

Two men faced each other in the room. One was an elderly priest. He was hunched on the altar, looking up into the other man's face. "Please, lord. I am the only one here tonight, I cannot leave! Who will take confession if I do not?"

The second man had dark hair and eyes. He was average height and weight and were it not for his expression of cruelty and ambition, his features would have been forgettable. When he spoke, his voice seemed to buzz up out of his throat. "I don't care about your confessional. I care about my prince! He needs a priest and I'm going to bring him one before someone else gets to it! Now let's go!"

He reached forward to grab the older man roughly by the collar and started dragging him down the steps. That was when one of Cana's cards whirled through the room like a throwing star and slammed into his temple. He went down like a sack of potatoes. The priest looked up, mouth round in shock as the Fairy Tail members emerged from the shadows. Lisanna courteously helped him sit as Laki cheerfully fashioned handcuffs out of one of the pews.

"Father, can you tell us who this is? Why did he need you to go with him?" Lisanna asked. The priest looked up at her, still shaken. "He...he said he needed a priest to come to the palace. But they have many priests more exalted than I who are close by, ready and hoping to be called! And I cannot go, my parish expects me to be here."

Laki's eyes narrowed. "He needed you at the palace, huh? For something he couldn't call the usual guys for...shot in a million, guys, but I think this uggo might be involved with Lucy."

Cana looked down, grinning. "Well it's a good thing he's waking up then. Father, why don't you leave this to us? We'll be out of your hair in a flash!" The priest hurriedly agreed and slipped away into the back rooms of the church, leaving Team DrunkMan to group themselves around the intruder and put on their most menacing faces. Thus when he woke up it was to Laki grinning evilly as she casually molded varying torture devices out of church pews, backed by the largest man he'd ever seen and two others who looked far too happy about the whole situation.

* * *

Laki's voice echoed in everyone's minds through Warren. " _So after he woke up I, erm, persuaded him to tell us his plans. He definitely works for the Prince and the assholes have Lucy. Tristan sent him and someone else to go get a priest; I guess he doesn't trust his people very much if he had to send two. Speaks to his whole shit character. We stopped this one but unless one of you has found another we can assume they've gotten someone. They're going to use the priest to marry Lucy and Tristan after the castle's gone to bed-_

Here a squeal of feedback that sounded like a roar mixed with the crackling of a bonfire sounded, until a dull thunk and a "shut up, Natsu! We're all upset but you'll get us caught and then who'll save Lucy?!" was heard. It was followed by a tense, deadly silence, palpable even over the airwaves. Laki continued after a moment.

" _So, um, anyway...they're going to marry Tristan and Lucy while assassins go after Jude and his advisors. They'll destroy any copies of her abdication letter and a new treaty the king's been working on and tomorrow they'll announce to the country that there's a new king in town."_

Another silence, shocked this time, followed her story. There was so much... _wrong_ with it that no one knew what to say for a moment. Levy, ever their tactician, jumped in.

" _Alright everyone. It's already been a few hours since we landed and split up. We need to move now and that means we have to find a way into the palace without raising the alarm."_

Wendy's shy voice echoed in everyone's cranium. " _Why don't we just tell the king what's going on? Then he can protect himself."_

It was Cana who replied. " _No go. We were pretty close to the palace so after we finished beating-I mean talking to Tristan's goon, we ran over there. The guards would barely even look at us and when we said there was a plot going on, they tried to arrest us! We had to run. Anyone trying to warn them is gonna get laughed off at best, jailed at worst. We'll have to sneak in. We're hiding in a warehouse two blocks away with a pretty good view of the place-everyone come over here and we'll hash out a plan."_

The other three groups converged on the warehouse. It was dusty and full of crates, but it was nearly six stories high and a few small windows on the top floor did boast a solid view of the palace's back wall. Everyone crowded around, muttering to each other and sketching schematics for a break in. Darkness quickly settled around the town, and while lights had blazed inside inside the castle and in the buildings around them, they started to slowly flicker out. Finally, Erza spoke from where she, Levy, and Gajeel had been squatting.

"Alright, everyone. Here is what we're going to do…"

Twenty minutes later they had all worked their way through the streets, slipping from shadow to shadow. All, except for Vijeeter, Cana, Grey, and the Exceeds. They came up to a small side door manned by two bored looking guards. Cana swayed her way up to the men, adding a bit of a shimmy to her walk. "Hullo, gents! We're here for the ambassador's party as the final bit of entertainment for the night. They said to come in the east door...that's this one, yeah?"

The guards straightened and one frowned. "I didn't hear anything about any entertainment coming this way." Cana looked innocently surprised. "No? I can't believe it! We're practically the main event! Here to give those stuffy aristocrats something to do aside backstab each other!" She laughed heartily and one of the guards joined in. The one who'd spoken looked unconvinced.

"Y'all don't look like any performers I've seen." Cana leaned in, treating him to a wink. "Oh, but we are, darlin'. How about a pre-party show just for you boys?" She gestured at her companions. Vijeeter immediately lept into a wild dance, the Exceeds (formerly on the ground looking like average cats) sprouting wings and flew in formations, and Grey half heartedly started to juggle snowballs. The guard who had laughed looked entranced, wandering over to watch Vijeeter and Grey, head whipping around to follow the Exceeds as they flew by. The more taciturn man looked interested but did not leave his post. Cana pulled out her cards.

"My troupe's a bunch of showboaters, but I weave some real magic. Ever wanted to know your fortune?" It worked. The man drifted away from the gate, following Cana a few steps to a streetlamp to see her cards better. Neither of the guards noticed a trickle of water that flowed over the ground and under the door. And neither of them noticed the gate creep open a foot to allow silent shadows to slip through. The door closed once more.

Cana wrapped up her reading, the Exceeds landed, Grey let the balls fall to the ground, and Vijeeter poured his heart and soul into his climactic final moves. Chatting with the guards as though they'd known them forever, the group cheerfully allowed the men to hold the gate for them and graciously accepted their offers of luck for the party ahead. As the gate closed behind them, Cana smirked as the group blended into the shadows of the garden next to their friends. "Let's do this, bitches."

They split into the same groups as before for simplicity: Happy-Natsu-Erza-Vijeeter, Gajeel-Lily-Levy-Juvia-Grey, Wendy-Mira-Charle-Warren, and Lisanna-Elfman-Cana-Laki. Laki opened a hole in a door for them to enter the side of the palace. They were confronted with a dark hallway, clearly in an out of the way wing. The teams split smoothly at the first couple junctions, and quickly each quartet found themselves on their own. All of them heard the distant tolling of a clock tower as it announced the eleventh hour.

Team DrunkMan crept through the hallways. Some were lit still, although few people were walking about. Laki hid them in the wood of the walls whenever someone appeared. After nearly twenty minutes of searching, they came upon an important looking door. Laki manipulated them through, and the group found themselves in an impressive looking study. A piece of paper lay across the largest desk, and Lisanna bent over it.

"Look here! This is the treaty between Argyle and Zanada!" she whispered. The others gathered around, and were thus in an incredibly incriminating position when the door opened.

* * *

Mira led her group down the hall, Wendy's superior hearing allowing them to step into empty rooms as palace inhabitants hurried by. They turned down an opulent hallway with a plaque declaring it the "Hall of Advisers." Mira would estimate half an hour had flown by since they starting looking around, and she worried about Lucy. Was she already trapped in an arranged marriage, hopeless and without love? Wendy's hand on hers stopped her thoughts.

"Mira-san. I hear someone up ahead...but it doesn't sound like nice people." she whispered. Mira nodded, readying her magic. In her peripheral vision she saw Wendy do the same, while Charle unsheathed her claws and Warren grabbed a heavy silver candlestick. Now she too could hear the footsteps. A group of fifteen men rounded the corner, dressed in black and carrying far too many weapons for her liking. She could feel the pulse of magic coming from several of them as well. There was no doubt.

These were the assassins.

* * *

Gajeel padded down the hallway in his shadow form, Lily floating on one side and Levy pattering next to him on the other. Behind him paced Grey and Juvia, watching his six. He was following a scent. It was odd-it smelled like Lucy, but _not._ Like a strangely perverted sense of Bunny Girl. He hoped it wasn't the prince. The prince smelling like Lucy meant that Gajeel would have to halfway kill him and then deliver him to Salamander. He'd want the same if someone were to hurt Shrimp. As he came closer to the source, he heard cries and grunts, before the coppery tang of blood wafted into his nose. "Shit!" he growled, breaking into a run. The group rounded a final corner to find a huge set of oaken double doors. One was ajar and the shouts came from inside. Lily morphed into his battle form and kicked the second door open. They were confronted not with the prince, a relief to Gajeel, but with King Jude himself and several of his guards. They were locked in battle with a half dozen men in black. One of Jude's guards lay dead, and the others were losing steam fast. The king was in a dressing gown and house shoes, wielding a saber with deadly intent. But Gajeel could see him bleeding from he knew not where, and the ruler was pale. Another moment and his strength would fail.

Gajeel cracked his knuckles and Fairy Tail jumped into the fight.

* * *

Natsu was raging. It had been a quarter of an hour and still _nothing._ Where was Lucy? God, that piece of shit could be hurting her right now. He could have decided he didn't need her anymore and be killing her right now! About to blow out a wall in frustration, Natsu froze. They'd passed another junction and he'd caught the barest drifting scent in the air. Lucy's scent. Immediately he made a sharp 90 degree turn, following that scent like his life depended on it, because Lucy's might. The others followed, and even Happy was quiet, allowing him to concentrate. Ten minutes later, down dark halls and twisting stairs, they reached the doors. Wooden, imposing, and Natsu could feel the darkness radiating from them. He could also smell Lucy, _his Lucy,_ behind the door. So without hesitation he kicked it in.

And there she was, in a long white dress with tears glittering in her eyes. She was hand clasped with the most odious man Natsu had ever laid eyes on, and a priest with a puffy black eye cowered behind the makeshift altar. The couple was surrounded by people Natsu would bet his scarf weren't there to make merry. They were hard, deadly, and all focused on him.

As they came at him and he burst into flames, he looked at Lucy and saw that her eyes had overflowed, and that they were tears of relief and joy that he was here. Then a fist came at his face and he threw himself into showing these fucks why you never stole from a dragon.

* * *

 **Let me know what you think! Next week: battle, battle, and more battle! Possibly some long awaited smut ;)**


	14. Rescuing the Maiden

**Hello everyone! This chapter is almost a week late, but I have a great excuse: I got engaged this week! So I went from very not busy with plenty of time to write to very very busy with no time! That's also why I did not respond to reviews. I read them all, and thank you everyone who wrote in for your continued feedback! It's what keeps the story going. I think we can assume that I won't be able to get another chapter out by this Thursday, but we're very close to the end now and I would be very surprised if this wasn't finished by the end of November. Thanks for sticking with me! Now here's your 8k word chapter to make up for my lateness. Warning: I've earned my M rating with this. Bout damn time, right?**

* * *

Gajeel bodyslammed the first assassin without hesitation, drawing on his iron dragon form to protect himself. Throwing the unprepared man across the room, he turned to see Juvia holding three more in water locks, Grey laying about with ice make swords, and Levy and Lily hustling over to the king, Lily in full battle form and Levy sketching bandages out of thin air. The guards still well enough to fight were reforming. It seemed that this battle would be over before it began, Gajeel thought smugly. With maybe the exception of that pretty boy Grey, who totally didn't deserve Juvia, his team was the shit.

Of course, the moment that thought crossed his mind is when everything went to hell.

There was an odd shiver in the air and Gajeel felt a horrible _slimy_ sensation twist around him and settle over his limbs. He didn't know how to fight this. It wasn't physical, he couldn't punch it. He changed his limb to an iron bat anyway to try. But...his arm didn't change. As soon as he tried, that twisted sensation doubled and his magic, spreading down his arm, turned back on itself and didn't make it out of his skin. He strained, panting and sweating, but the most he could do was muster a few flaky scales. Looking around wildly he saw the same happen to the rest of his team. Grey's ice was melting into nothing, Juvia's water locks had come undone, Lily was tiny and harmless, and although Levy's bandages thankfully remained, no new words could form. Jude's men, all nonmages, were on their knees gasping and sweating. Apparently whatever was affecting his magic put the nonmages on the ground just as successfully. The king himself was wavering on one knee, a hand to his wound Where the hell was this power coming from?

His question was answered when a man stepped into the room. A warrior. He was tall, with silver hair in a braid to the side of his face and matching cold eyes. His hands were held outward, and the slimy sensation flowed from him in waves. Gajeel could see the strain holding their power hostage took on the man by the sheen of sweat on his brow, but the warrior's gaze was steady. Steady and merciless. He pulled out a dagger and turned toward the king. The man was forced to move slowly, a result of holding his working, but one measured step after another brought him closer to an already wounded Jude.

Gajeel's eyes bugged out as he tried to move. The working seemed to steal his strength as much as his magic. No, not steal it. Warp it. Turn it back into him so that what should have been a motion turned into nothing but a twitch. And then, looking at the dagger with runes so similar to the ones on the manacles at the ship used to transport Lucy, Gajeel belatedly realized that this was the warp mage working with Tristan.

The realization brought with it a curious elation. He found himself grinning like a madman before closing his eyes and falling into himself, finding the core of his magic quickly in the hastily imposed meditation. Reaching into it, he found what he needed: the traces of the warp magic he'd consumed with those disgusting manacles earlier. As his body digested the iron he'd eaten, so his magic absorbed the new power he'd taken in. It was a slight amount, he would never be a warp mage himself, but his soul now had a speck of awareness of and familiarity to the other sorcerer's power. And Gajeel, dimly remembering a childhood lesson on the immune system, planned to use it as a vaccine was used to fight off a deadly disease. He pulled it to the forefront of his mind, allowed his senses to become intimately familiar with it, and then swamped it in his own, much larger, magical reserves. All this took place in the span of a slow breath, inside his mind and power, and as Gajeel reopened his eyes, the warp mage was still three long steps away from the king.

Now when the metal slayer pulled at his power, it recognized and knew the warp magic inside and out. It had already overwhelmed this once before, why not again? This time he recognized the twisting, slimy grasp of the magic as it came for him and his own power twisted with it and around it, allowing him to break free of the hold it had on him. He was slowed down and it took a hell of a lot of concentration to keep himself from collapsing back into immobility, sure, but his arm formed into a club and his legs moved. The mage was two steps away from the king. Gajeel would never make it across the room in time. Another grunt of effort lifted his arm and reshaped it into a blade. Then he pulled all his power up into his forearm and _pushed._

A step away from the king, the mage's hand lifted his dagger, ready to put his lord on the throne-until something slammed his arm into the wall next to him. A heartbeat later the pain came as he realized that his limb hadn't been tackled, but pierced. An iron blade had gone straight through his wrist and embedded itself into the wall. Blood poured out as he screamed and lost his grip on the warphold.

The rest of the room immediately snapped into action once they were free. Guards mobbed the mage as Gajeel carefully withdrew his blade and returned it to its normal state. The man was placed in anti-magic chains and relieved of his other weapons before Levy created more bandages for his wrist. She updated Jude on what Fairy Tail knew about Tristan's plans as she wrapped the prisoner up.

The king still looked very pale and was clearly in pain. Despite his infirmity and what an ass he'd been to Lucy (they all knew this whole thing was his fault and were not so secretly judging him for it), he still commanded respect as he shakily stood and ordered a pair of guards to awaken the rest of the palace forces. As they left, an explosion and resulting shudder ran through the palace. Jude's head turned and his eyes narrowed. "That sounds close. The advisers' hall!" He started hobbling through the doors. The guards and fairies rushed after him.

"Your Majesty! You're injured!" cried a guard. Jude turned, eyes furious. "My kingdom is under attack by a worthless excuse of a man. I seriously doubt _he_ is fighting right now. I will not lower myself to his cowardice." He continued to shuffle his way down the corridor as everyone else shared a look of equal parts admiration and exasperation. Then Panther Lily expanded into battle form once more and swept the royal up. "Point the way then, and we'll get there faster." he grunted, before they all took off toward the source of another explosion.

* * *

Team Drunkman stared at the other intruders to the king's study for a half second of awkward silence. Cana broke it. "So...looks like we're all here on the sly. You boys go your way and we'll go ours, how about?" She winked.

They attacked.

Most of the black clad thugs ran straight at the team, while one lifted into the air and another began to run up a wall. Obviously there were mages in the group. Elfman morphed into his biggest beast soul and stonewalled three men while seemingly barely moving a muscle. Laki shucked her shoes and jumped up onto the wall as well, her feet finding purchase in the dark-paneled wood without issue. She ran to meet the other wall-crawler, drawing the attention of the flying mage as well.

Cana and Lisanna took up stances near the main desk. Clearly the crooks were here for important papers of some kind. Four fighters got through Elfman. Cana grinned. "Two each. Last one to take them down owes the other a drink!" Barely finished speaking, she threw her cards at the closest two, trapping one in a steel cage and shocking the other with a lightning bolt.

"That's cheating!" Lisanna called, snapping open the wings of her bird form and slashing one woman across the face with her talons. The other man held his hands out in front of him and smoke began to stream from them, a blinding tactic. "I don't _fucking_ think so!" Lisanna snapped, beating her wings at his hands frantically to disperse the fog as she landed a devastating upward kick to his jaw. She turned swiftly, changing into her hare form as she did in order to bound over the woman she'd slashed a moment before. She'd recovered, though blood sheeted over her face, and raised a quarter staff to smash Lisanna's head in. Lisanna flipped over her head, coming to the ground in tiger form. She ducked under the staff as it whistled by and got in close, wrapping her tail around the woman's arm. The assassin's other hand reached into her belt and came back with a dagger. Shit! Lisanna grabbed at the other woman's wrist, managing to get her fingers around her arm. It wasn't enough, though, as the dagger began to make its way toward her stomach. In desperation the takeover mage yanked her tail up and back, and was rewarded when it was proven a stronger limb than arms, and brought the assassin's entrapped wrist with it. A crack sounded, and the woman screamed, dropping the dagger and turning white for a moment before dropping in a dead faint. Looking at the odd angle to her shoulder, Lisanna wasn't surprised. And given the group's plan for the country and herself, not very sorry either. She looked up to find a room full of unconscious bodies and strewn with papers. Whoops. Good thing Natsu wasn't here. Binding her two assailants and walking over to Laki, she frowned slightly at the wall-climbing mage's bloody feet and raised her brow in silent question.

"Only an idiot would fight a wood mage on wood," Laki answered her, "and not expect it to grow some obstacles." She gestured to a portion of the wall that had formed spikes, several of which had blood running from them, and a couple that held up an unfortunately pinned flight mage. Lisanna pulled him off the wall with a squelching noise and raised another brow.

"Don't look at me like that! It's not my fault Speedy McGee over there doesn't know how to hit the brakes!"

They were interrupted by Cana calling them over to where she and Elfman had put the rest of the thugs. "Guys, some of them are waking up. What d'you say we have a little chat about their plans, huh? Round two?"

Team Drunkman smiled.

* * *

Natsu dodged the first punch thrown at him, pulling his eyes away from Lucy's in order to focus on the enemies doing their best to overcome his team. He grabbed the man swinging at him and lit himself on fire as he flipped him over his shoulder and onto the ground. Turning, he dodged a blade aimed at his chest and ducked inside his opponent's range to give them a taste of a Fire Dragon's Sword Horn. Dropping that one, he tripped over a body Erza had left in her wake as she took on most of the rest of the room and fell heavily to the floor. Turning, he saw a mace swinging down toward his head and knew he wouldn't be fast enough to get out of the way.

But he didn't have to, as a frankly beautiful flying kick from Vijeeter broke that thug's arm and he howled. Vijeeter touched down lightly and offered a hand to Natsu. He then performed a twirl with a flourish that spoke to Natsu's soul of both beauty and bloodshed, and poked another assailant in the eye. Huh. He should really go on more jobs with the dance mage. Who knew?

Natsu turned back to the room at large, revealing all the flunkies on the floor with various pains. Still surrounding Lucy and Prince Fugly-Dead (As Natsu had named him. It was either that or Prince-Rip-His-Fucking-Balls-Off-For-Touching-My-Girl and that was too long.) were three women exuding a contained air of violence. That was no good. He liked his enemies to be out of their mind with rage when they attacked. Opponents like that made mistakes. One of the women, one with deep blue hair and colder blue eyes, locked onto him. The second turned her chocolate brown eyes to Erza. The third, a greenette, prowled toward Happy and Vijeeter. There was a crystal moment of silence that Natsu broke as he sent a jet of flame at the bluenette. She dodged gracefully, putting up a sheet of ice that turned to steam as his fire hit and filled the room. Natsu grinned. She wanted to blind him, huh? Tough nuts for her, because his ears and nose helped him pinpoint her whereabouts with little trouble. As for her ice magic-looks like beating on Grey all these years was about to pay off.

He closed his eyes. They would be useless anyway for at least the next few minutes, and he wanted this done and over with. Focusing on his hearing and smell, he picked out each person in the room. Happy and Vijeeter were to his left with something that sounded big and smelled like a swamp. Weird. To his right sound was oddly muffled and everything smelled like a cloud, but he heard Erza's blades swinging to meet another. He got lost for a second in Lucy's scent of stardust, mixed with the disgusting sweaty smell that must be Prince Fugly-Dead. But between them and himself was the cold smell of ice. It was similar to Grey's, but missing an element of life and purpose he always picked up from the stripper. Not that he would be telling Grey that. Focusing on that cold waft of air and picking out the light patter of footsteps, Natsu determined that the woman was circling him. He waited until she was away from Lucy to turn and strike out.

"Fire Dragon's Fist!"

"Ice Queen's Frost!"

She responded in kind and his flames met a pile of powder, exploding it over the room and creating still more steam. Huffing, he closed his eyes again. She clearly wasn't a Molding Mage or she'd be making weapons. But she must have some kind of supernatural awareness to pick out when he began an attack. Were he not a fire mage, he imagined she would freeze him alive. Steam tickled his eyelashes as it condensed. It gave him an idea. Picking out her scent and matching it to her footsteps once more, he allowed his flames to burst over his body and roared as he turned toward her, preparing a tightly focused and intensely hot ball of fire in his hands. As he'd hoped, she threw up a massive barrier of ice and sidestepped. He sent his fire curving to the side before slamming back into her shield, simultaneously sending a blast of fire to her other side so she was forced to step closer to the barrier now turning to steam. Scalding steam. At point blank range.

She screamed as it burned her, and he felt mildly ill at the smell and the burns she would probably have for life, but remembered that she was there to watch a girl be forced into marriage to a sadistic rapist who was sending men to kill her father. Yeah, burns were fine. Pulling out some anti-magic rope, he bound up the mage before gathering up some leftover snow and dumping it on her face. "For the heat." he said sweetly, before turning to look for Lucy.

Erza scowled. She couldn't see shit in this steam, and an instinctive part of her wanted to go yell at Natsu for fighting an ice mage, despite it _not_ being Grey and being _entirely_ appropriate for him to do so for once. Pushing away the thought, she focused on her opponent, a gorgeous woman with dark skin and hair. She could not let herself be distracted by what she'd thought was a Heart Kruz wrist guard. She needed to determine what type of magic the other woman used and adapt as necessary. Erza frowned. Was the steam getting thicker? That didn't seem possible; she couldn't hear anything suggesting that Natsu was clashing with the ice mage.

The fog-it had to be fog, it was as though she were in a cloud-grew thicker and thicker, muffling the sounds of the room and becoming dense enough that she could barely see two feet in front of her. So she had almost no warning when the other mage exploded out of the fog, wielding two milky white blades the length of her forearms. Erza barely got her sword up in time to parry and one blade left a shallow cut on her bicep. The other woman disappeared as quickly as she'd come, leaving Erza turning wildly in a circle. How had she found her so easily? What were the knives made of? They almost seemed like...like...solid fog. And Erza realized that she was in a battlefield of her enemy's making, where only one of them was blind. This was not good at all.

She requipped immediately into her new chainmail. It covered her from the top of her head to drape across her toes. It would stop a slash from any direction, but she could still be skewered by her opponent's sword. Presumably it would do no good to disarm her; she could make as many blades as she wished. Erza closed her eyes, trying to listen, but the fog was too thick. God, what she wouldn't give for Natsu's sense of smell right now. Or his fire-of course!

Erza sidestepped quickly as she requipped into her Flame Empress Armor, knowing that the assassin had her location in the fog and wanting to be moving during her moment of vulnerability. Once dressed, she flicked open the flint that came with the armor and set her sword on fire. As she'd hoped, it burned away the fog around her three feet in every direction. Whipping around, she lifted the burning sword and barely blocked as the fog mage swung both blades at her head. She looked furious, fog blooming around her as fast as Erza could burn it away. It drifted across Erza's vision and pooled around her knees. But Erza could see and hear, and that meant she could fight. So she slashed and stabbed and parried as the mage proved herself to be not only a strong mage but a swordswoman worthy of respect. They battled back and forth through the continuously swirling fog until finally Erza saw her opening. The fog mage faltered a moment as her foot caught on something (probably a flunkie) and Erza swooped in to disarm her. Before she could reform her weapons, Erza forwent any formalities and punched her in the face. Hard. As the mage hit the floor, the fog dispersed and Erza wasted no time binding the other woman up. Task complete, she looked around the room.

When the steam had billowed out from the center of the room, Vijeeter and Happy had been looking at a green haired mage, preparing for battle. When it cleared, they were looking at a large, ugly green turtle. Which confused the hell out of both of them until it revealed itself to be a long-necked snapping turtle when it's head shot across the intervening space like a chameleon's tongue and nearly took Happy's wing off. _That_ galvanized them into action. Dodging and weaving appeared to be the best strategy as they desperately tried to avoid the head. Spinning like a dervish to avoid a bite, Vijeeter noticed that Happy's blue fur seemed more attractive to the beast than his own dark clothes.

"Happy!" he cried, "stay in front of it and back up!" Happy looked ready to argue but Vijeeter danced a quick jig of purpose and apology, and Happy understood his intent and began to zig zag in front of the ancient reptile until it had stretched its neck to the max. Then the dance mage twisted himself into a beautiful triple axle as though he were a figure skater and landed directly on the neck with a kung fu chop he'd learned from some dance master hermits who lived in a mountain monastery and ate only beets. It was enough to crunch the neck and cause the turtle to turn back into the woman they'd been looking at originally, gasping and clutching at the enormous bruise covering her cervix and upper back. Happy flew in with the magic cuffs, and they were free to watch the drama unfold in the rest of the room.

When the Fairy Tail team had kicked the door in and attacked, Lucy was electrified with hope. She'd been stuffed in a hideous wedding gown, surrounded by Tristan's followers, and forced onto the alter. Her magic nullifying cuffs were still on and Tristan's sweaty hands clasped her own too tightly. She felt for the poor priest obviously dragged here against his will. He was now curled up hiding under a table. Good for him. She, however, was not inclined to hide.

So when the fog from Erza's fight billowed over to her portion of the room, she ripped herself out of Tristan's grasp and darted into it, reaching under her dress as she did so. Her overt modesty from earlier paid off as her hand found the handle of her smuggled dagger. Palming it, she hid her hand back in the folds of her dress and moved back the way she'd come. The fog swirled around her and she stumbled slightly, cursing. Without warning the prince appeared in front of her, having oriented himself to her pottymouth. He gripped her above the elbow, bruisingly tight.

"You dumb bitch! Call off your fucking dogs before I rip their tongues out and yours too!" he hissed. She tried to pull away, not wanting to stab him if she could help it. Natsu had to defeat his guardmaiden soon and come for her. Another figure came out of the fog and she nearly cried out in relief. He was here!

But it wasn't Natsu. It was the priest. He'd found a backbone somewhere under the table and swung the vow book at the prince's head, clipping him. The prince cursed and threw the elderly man to the ground. Still holding on to Lucy, he pulled out a dagger of his own and raised it over the father.

Lucy struck. She swooped in low, trying not to kill him if she could. It only took one well placed hit to make him fall, clutching at his wound. As she stood looking down at him, the fog began to clear and the clashes of three fights died down. She looked up to find her family's eyes on her. She was prepared for them to be horrified. But they weren't. Instead there was warmth and relief that she was alright, that it was Tristan on the ground screaming in agony instead of her. They knew that had the tables been turned he wouldn't have bothered trying to keep her alive. Erza ripped a tunic off one of the guards and wadded it up, striding over to Lucy and the prince. She knelt and shoved the makeshift bandage between Tristan's legs, causing him to moan pitifully.

"Shut up." she said quietly. "Feel lucky that I'm bothering to help stop the bleeding. Had it been me with the knife, I would have done more than castrate you." Shoving the wadding still further into his groin, she bound his legs tightly to keep it in place. Then she skillfully tied his arms and picked him up by his feet, ready to drag to their next destination.

Lucy felt warm arms wrap around her and she found herself in Natsu's crushing embrace. "Luce! You're alright! God, I was so scared. I'm so sorry. If I hadn't left…"

She put a hand to his lips. "It's not your fault. They planned this very carefully. I think one way or another I would have ended up here. I'm just glad you're all alright."

He rested his forehead against hers and smiled. Pulling back, he glanced at the whimpering prince. "Jesus, Luce, remind me not to piss you off. Can't say I'm sorry for it, but his _balls?"_ He shook his head, then brightened.

"Ah! I almost forgot! It took me around the whole damn field, but I got it for you!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out the silk flower he'd gotten her at the festival. It seemed ages ago now, and she teared up that he'd brought it all this way for her as he tucked it behind her ear. He let a hand drift to her cheek and they smiled at each other.

"A-hem." They turned to find a blushing Erza, Happy, Vijeeter, and Tristan (although he may have been red because he was crying like a baby) behind them. "I am sorry to break this up," Erza started, "but there were assassins sent after your father and other members of the court. We ought to go lend our assistance."

Lucy gasped. "They sent assassins? Even though I.." she flushed with rage and snatched her keys off the table. Then, bloody wedding dress and all, she marched out the door with her team following her and Natsu at her side.

* * *

When Gajeel's team rounded the last corner and burst into the Hall of Advisors, they were pulled up short for a moment by the chaos in front of them. The hall was swarming with black clad assassins trying to get into the rooms all down the hall. A few guards had joined the fight and the advisers themselves had clearly been woken and warned to stay put if the tightly sealed entrances were any indication. Mira, Wendy, Charle, and Warren were in the thick of things. Mira had pulled out her Satan Soul and was battling three mages at once while Charle flew Wendy up to the top of the vaulted ceiling, only to swoop down to add a greater inertia to her already powerful wind dragon roar, bowling thugs over like pins. Warren darted to fallen bodies, slamming them over the head with a candlestick and cuffing them. Although lacking in the offense department, he dodged attacks with ease and Gajeel saw him focus on a man for a moment and send him stumbling in the other direction, looking confused. But despite their best efforts, the assassins had the numbers.

While the group looked for the best way to enter the fight, the attackers saw them and recognized the king snug in PatherLily's arms and started shooting. They was forced to scatter and take the offensive immediately. But they now outnumbered Tristan's men and the tide of the battle was quickly turning in their favor. As Gajeel punched out one of the last men he turned to see that not all of the advisers had hidden. A tall, grey-haired man stood in nightclothes and a breastplate, dueling two men at once. His swordplay was beautiful and Gajeel knew with certainty that he would beat the two opposing him. Still, he started forward to help put an end to the fight quickly. He was halfway across the hall when a third man appeared behind the adviser.

It was quick, quiet. The man stepped forward with the grace of a shadow and slid a sword underneath the grey-haired man's armor and into his kidney at an upward angle. By how deep the blade went, Gajeel was sure it had punctured a lung. He thought he was right when the sword came out and the adviser coughed up blood, falling to his knees. Gajeel froze.

"No! NAMVERE!" The cry came from the king, running awkwardly with his injuries toward the man. It galvanized Gajeel back into motion, sending well aimed spikes at all three assassins' legs. Ropes formed out of the air and twisted themselves around the men, and he shot Levy a look of wordless thanks as she appeared at his side.

Jude fell to his knees and pulled Namvere into his lap. A moment later Wendy landed and she didn't hesitate to put her hands on the man's bloody torso. But the wounds were deep and fatal and she'd used up too much of her magic today to help him. She withdrew to focus her remaining strength elsewhere.

Namvere looked up at his king. "Jude...I'm sorry. Please keep our country safe. Please...remember. To look at...the trees..that make up the forest." His eyes closed and his head dropped back, blood spooling out of his mouth.

The king sat on the ground, holding his advisor to him blankly as the battle ended around him, Fairy Tail overcoming its foes. Slowly, the rest of the group drifted over to him as their enemies were defeated. Jude took a shaky breath. This was his fault. He'd brought the treasonous bastard here, not taken the signs of danger seriously enough. And now his subjects were dead because of it. Carefully he placed his closest advisor on the marble floor and stood, finding himself far steadier than earlier. A little blue haired girl stepped back from him quickly, hands glowing lightly. Had she healed part of his wound? He didn't have time to think about it now. There was work to be done. Before he could gather himself to organize the mess that was his palace, he heard rapid footsteps behind him.

"Father!" Lucy was running down the hallway, covered in blood and followed by another ragtag team of mages. He watched her run toward him, thoughts a conflicted mess. If she'd just done her duty, none of this would have happened...but if she'd done her duty, the country would have one day passed to the prince who'd nearly completed a bloody coup. But would the coup have happened had she not run away? Would the prince have been molded into a ruler, a leader? Or would it always have been like this?

She seemed to falter slightly at his stoney appearance, and stopped to curtsy when she reached him. She drew herself up and he was pleased to see she had controlled her emotions. She could still be the princess the country needed. They would discuss her role in tonight's events tomorrow.

"We have Prince Tristan in our custody, Your Majesty." she said, as dry as though she were delivering a report on grain taxation. "He has been injured, although not fatally. He has confessed his leadership in the attack on your person to me and I am prepared to swear by it in court."

A moan sounded behind her. "That's not true! This is all Fairy Tail's fault! Your bitch daughter planned it and is pinning the blame on me! She fucking stabbed me in the _balls_!" the prince wailed, pleading with Jude. "This is war between our countries! Get me a healer and throw these bastards in the dungeon and maybe, _maybe_ we won't raze your country to the ground!"

The pink haired wizard stepped toward the man, scales appearing on his arms and face. Before he could do more than growl a voice interrupted him. "That's a filthy lie, Prince Asshole! And we've got proof!"

Team Drunkman rounded the corner, waving several scrolls triumphantly. Cana grinned, putting a hand on one hip and holding up a lacrima. "We found our way to the royal study and ran into another team of your people there to steal papers and plant false information. We have it all here, _and_ video feed of all your minions singing like birds about your plans. They must not like you much because they were _very_ easy to persuade."

The prince looked panicked. "You liar! Jude, you can't listen to some filthy whore over me-mmph!" Erza showed herself fed up as she let one gauntlet-ed fist slam down onto Tristan's head. A blessed silence fell in the hall. The king broke it.

"Captain," he addressed the guard to his left, who came to attention. "The rest of the palace forces have been alerted and should be here momentarily. Split them between here, my quarters, my study, and the prince's chambers. Give necessary medical attention to those of his that have been injured and put them all in the dankest cells we have. You," he looked to a maid who had braved the hallway, "wake the Master of the Household to find rooms for our guests. See that they receive food and full medical attention. We will decide no business tonight while everyone is exhausted, hurt, and," looking down at Namvere, "grieving. I will take the evidence of Tristan's wrongdoing. Tomorrow I will contact the King of Zanada and then, Lucy, you and I will convene to discuss our next steps."

His subjects scattered as he finished. Everything happened very quickly after that. The guards hauled off Tristan and his men, and the palace healers attended to any wounded before a nervous looking maid led each of them to a room. Happy floated away with Charle and Wendy, determined to comfort the lady cat after the night they'd had. When one came for Natsu, however, he refused.

"I stay with Lucy." He got wide eyed looks from the servants for that, but Jude had already gone and could not object. Lucy stepped in. "It's alright. I would prefer him to stay. Especially since we don't know for sure that all of Tristan's men have been caught."

This terrifying argument was enough to win over the staff, who quickly led her to her old rooms. Several maids tried to follow her in, but Lucy stopped them. "I'll be fine, thank you. If I need help undressing I'll summon Virgo." They reluctantly left, shooting scandalized looks at a bloody Natsu. As the door closed he looked around, letting out a low whistle.

"Damn, Luce. It almost rivals my horde." She blushed. The room was certainly ornate. What could she say? She didn't like being a princess, but she did like her baubles. Maybe she and Natsu were more alike than it seemed at first glance.

She let her eyes wander over him, taking in his ripped shirt, bloody arms, and bruises beginning to decorate his skin where an enemy got a hit in. His wings and tail were hidden away, but red gems still dusted his face and arms. Then she noticed how much skin was showing through the rips in the shirt, and how the scales were a deeper red than the blood, and how the bruises only defined his muscles more. He ran a hand through his hair and she followed it hungrily, letting her gaze drift down to his face only to find that he stared at her with much the same expression.

They crossed the room in the same moment and their lips met. It was passionate, fiery, full of relief and excitement at having found each other. Natsu's hand tangled in her hair and his other arm crushed her to him. Her hand slid down his chest, reveling in the feel of his muscles and sliding in the blood there-wait.

She pulled back hurriedly. She wanted Natsu more than she'd ever dreamed, but not smeared in blood and dirt and ash. She'd also like to get out of the wedding dress her kidnapper had put her in. There was really only one solution, were she brave enough to make the suggestion. But he was looking at her worriedly so she plucked up her courage.

"Um, would you, maybe, caretohaveabath?" She gestured toward her master bathroom awkwardly and he seemed to understand her garbled sentence because he grinned and took her hand, tugging her toward the door.

It was a large, marble room, kept pristine while she was away. As though her father had assumed she would fit back into her old life with barely a splash. They would talk about that tomorrow, but tonight she would take advantage of the pool sunk into the floor, the rows and rows of different scents to choose from, and the fluffy towels sitting on the warming lacrima. Usually the servants drew her baths despite her protests that it was just turning a faucet on, for gods' sake, she could do it, and she took a small vicarious pleasure in twisting the handle herself. Natsu had busied himself sniffing every product on the shelves. He approached her with a small blue bottle labeled "rain." She pulled out the stopper and let one drop fall into the stream of water, and watched as bubbles burst forth and the scent of a fresh rainfall spread through the room.

In the far corner of the room was a decorative changing screen partially covering a frosted glass cube. The cube was a small shower, designed to rinse excessive grime off the user before they sat in the tub. Lucy thought that she and Natsu definitely fit the category 'unusually icky.' She spotted Natsu sticking a toe in the bath.

"Wait! Use the shower first, just for a minute. I'll go first, but don't get in until then, ok?" His lips quirked at the idea of using a shower before a bath but for once he didn't make fun of her. This was her world, after all. She'd lived in his, he may as well try his hand at hers.

Lucy ducked behind the screen and stripped, heart pounding at the thought of being naked in the same room as Natsu. She turned on the shower and slipped in, thankful for the frosted glass as she picked up a loofah. She was interested...more than interested, she'd just suggested they bathe together, but she wasn't ready to give him a show just yet. So she scrubbed herself off and rinsed her hair before stepping out and wrapping a fluffy white towel around herself and returning to the tub. She smiled shyly at Natsu.

"You can go rinse off now." As he stepped behind the screen she set the towel aside and lowered herself into the tub.

From behind the screen, eye pressed to the crack, Natsu held back a gasp. God, she was gorgeous. And he got to join her? He felt a little like a perv, but the thought was easy to quash. Not so his absolute raging hard on. He stepped into the shower and tried to focus on nearly taking his skin off with the loofah and watching the blood swirl down the drain. It wasn't helping. He just kept envisioning that towel dropping, over and over. He really, really hoped she hadn't asked him to bathe with her just so she had someone to wash her back.

From the tub, Lucy stared hungrily at the glass cube. She could clearly see her dragon's outline, including what was either an extra tail she hadn't seen before, or...she gulped and fingered the ring sitting on her middle left finger. It was a gift from Cana and Mira after their sleepover and housed a contraceptive charm. She'd been mortified, but also grateful. Living with Natsu had been endless temptation and she'd known they'd end up here. Well, alright, she'd thought this would happen literally anywhere else than the palace she'd escaped from. It was really beautifully ironic that she was planning on losing her virginity in the place it had been so carefully guarded and preserved. With that rebellious thought in mind, she activated the charm as the shower stopped.

Natsu wrapped a towel around his hips, forcibly hiding his boner and walking with rather stiff legs to the bath where Lucy floated like a goddess. A Naiad beckoning him into her pool. She turned away, cheeks bright red, so he could drop his towel as she had and join her. Damn, she looked shy. Maybe he was just here to help with her hair. Although, looking at the golden strands, Natsu couldn't say he minded.

Once he was in she turned back to him and the reality of nothing between them but bubbles seemed to set in for them both at the same time. Lucy broke the silence.

"Thank you for coming for me."

His voice was rough, low. "I'm sorry I had to. I promised I would keep you safe."

"But you did. You saved me from a terrible fate. Not only me, but this country. Tristan's rule would have destroyed it. His selfishness."

"If I hadn't left you, though, you never would have been put in this position! I made it in time, Luce, but I almost didn't! What if we hadn't been able to get in for another hour? I wouldn't have found you at an altar, would I?"

The pain in his voice was evident and she couldn't help but cross the pool, putting a hand to his cheek and forcing him to look her in the eyes. "No, you wouldn't have." She said it with brutal honesty. "But we both know that either the prince or my father was going to keep sending men. I was going to have to run and hide and fight forever. It wouldn't be fair to Fairy Tail, and I don't want that. This was always going to come to a head, one way or another. So don't think about the possibilities. Let's just be happy that we're here together now."

His hand had covered her own while she spoke, and they'd drifted ever closer. Under the water, his other hand entwined with hers.

"Lucy….I…"

"Hush."

She brought her lips against his, gently. He kissed back softly for a moment before the spark of fire that had been dampened by the fear of the day reignited itself in his stomach and he wrapped an arm around her waist, rubbing one thumb over her skin in slow, tortuous circles. Carefully he brought her body closer. As her breasts brushed his chest she gasped and he took the moment to slip his tongue into her mouth, exploring. Her hand wound itself into his hair and she sucked sharply on his tongue, making him moan. This time she came closer, pressing her body into his. He sat back on the ledge running the length of the pool, pulling her on top until she straddled him, kissing hungrily all the while. One hand reached down and grabbed a handful of ass, grinding their cores together. Lucy moaned as his cock rubbed along her slit and took the initiative, repeating the motion. Natsu threw his head back with a groan. This girl was killing him with barely anything! He needed to catch her up. Her shoulders and breasts were out of the water and he ducked his head down to tug a nipple into his mouth and suck, still grinding against her. She squealed, hands tugging at his hair. He sucked and licked, playing with her breast. Releasing the first nipple, he bit down on the slope of her breast, eliciting a shriek. Grinning, he moved on to the second one. He couldn't leave anything feeling left out. She was driving him mad by continuing to pull at his hair and grind herself down onto him. Letting go of the other nipple with a pop, he brought one hand around and squeezed her breast. Doing so, a flash of gold caught his eye, and he remembered the ring he'd dug out of his hoard a few days ago with the handy contraceptive charm in it. Dragging both sets of nails down her back, he discreetly activated it before bringing both hands back to tweak at her nipples. She gasped his name.

"Natsu!"

She bucked onto him, telling him what she wanted. But he wasn't ready to let her take all of him just yet. He didn't want to hurt her. He wrapped an arm firmly around her waist and reached the other under the surface, drifting down her body. Reaching her apex, he flicked a finger over her clit, making her arch. Before she could come down from that pleasure, he slid one finger inside. Damn, she was tight! Rubbing his thumb over her clit, he gently made a 'come hither' motion with his finger, making her squeal his name again. He could feel a liquid that wasn't the water coating his fingers. He added a second finger and felt her clench around him as she moaned. He kept up the pressure on her clit, speeding up his gesturing motion inside her to hit her g-spot. Leaning forward, he bit down on her breast again.

Lucy screamed and bucked on his hand, raking her nails across his shoulders and damn near pulling his hair out. She collapsed against him for a moment, then pulled back, flushed and smiling. He brought his hand carefully out, making her shudder as he slipped free. Then she surprised him by reaching down and grabbing his cock, running her hand along it. It was his turn to groan. She gripped him by the base and hovered over it, placing the tip at her entrance. Slowly, she started to sink down, letting gravity help her take him in. Natsu's head was thrown back, mouth open, panting. It was surprisingly sexy and gave her the boost she needed to push down the last inch, sheathing him to the hilt. They sat like that for a moment, adjusting to each other. Natsu brought his head up slowly, meeting Lucy's gaze. He cupped her face and kissed her gently. The kiss spoke of respect and joy and pleasure; maybe even hinted at love. When it broke, Lucy began to move slowly up and down, rocking into him. Both of them moaned, and she started going faster. The spark of flame inside Natsu grew hotter and he could see a matching one in Lucy's gaze as she continued to pick up the pace. Natsu wasn't the type to sit still; he grabbed Lucy's hips and used his strength to lift her up before slamming her back down, impaling her on his shaft over and over again, faster and faster.

Lucy thought she might have finger marks on her hips to match the bites on her breasts and she _loved_ it. She felt as though a star was growing inside her, burning hotter and hotter. What were stars but fire? And what was a nebula but an explosion? She didn't have time to put the abstract feelings into words as she looked into Natsu's eyes and tipped over the edge of her own nebula, a burst of color blotting out her vision as she tipped her head to the ceiling and screamed, matched by Natsu's own roar as he emptied into her with three hard thrusts.

They collapsed against each other, panting and sweating. Natsu had pushed off the wall a bit as he came, and she realized why as his wings came around her, cocooning them into their own little world. She snuggled into his chest, eyes drooping. He chuckled, nudging her.

"C'mon, Princess. It would be pretty embarrassing if you drowned in the tub after I went through all the trouble to get you back." Sleepily, she lifted her head and poked her tongue out at him, which he promptly kissed. Pulling back, she lifted off him, both of them groaning as he slid out. Picking up a handful of bubbles, Natsu gently ran them over her before grabbing a washcloth and carefully wiping between her legs. In return she slid her own bubbles over his chest and back. When they were both clean, he lifted her bridal style out of the water, ignoring her squeak as he pulled the plug and walked them both into the shower to rinse the last of the suds off their bodies. Lucy pulled out two more towels. "They're not warm like the others." she apologized.

Natsu just raised an eyebrow at her as he held both towels to his chest. A second later he'd wrapped her in the delightfully cozy cloth. Picking her back up, he carried her this time to her bedroom, spitting a fire into her fireplace as they went. He carefully put her down, climbing into bed after her. He bounced once, thoughtfully.

"Luce? This bed is amazing! Let's take it back home with us!"

Ignoring the jitters at going 'home,' Lucy just rolled her eyes playfully before snuggling into him, not minding her lack of clothes. "Greedy dragon." she murmured. "Go to sleep."

He smiled down at her, watching her take her own advice, before wrapping an arm more securely around her and closing his eyes, drifting off into blissful slumber.

* * *

 **Hope this was worth the wait! As always, let me know what you think! (I'll respond this week! Pinky promise!)**


	15. Home

**Hello! I'm on of those people I swore I'd never be-late with an update. But on the upside (or downside, I suppose) this is the final chapter! I've kept you from it long enough, so check out my post at the bottom for an update about possible future works!**

* * *

She floated in darkness. It wrapped around her like an old friend, surrounding her in warmth. She felt safe, like she had when her mother was still alive. Lucy snuggled deeper into the heat of the blackness and let out a contented sigh. She could have sworn the darkness snuggled her back. She heard a whisper, seemingly from all around her. She giggled. The whisper came again, but it was a little louder, a little more urgent. " _Luce…"_ The heat went from comforting to sweltering, and the shadows tightened their hold on her a bit, shaking her lightly. " _Luce! Lucy...wake up!"_

Her eyes snapped open. She flinched away from the sudden light, so intrusive after the relaxed peace of her twilight world, now revealed to be the place in between sleep and waking. The heat and pressure remained, though, and as she blinked and looked around she realized that she was being held to Natsu's chest with the blankets pulled up to both of their chins. Looking up at him, she found his gorgeous green eyes fixed over her head and a tense expression on his face. He glanced down and let out a breath when he saw she was awake. "Luce! Um, hi, good morning, _don't drop the blankets."_ he hissed. Shifting herself around to face the room, Lucy felt her face heat up as she was confronted with a roomful of scandalized maids, ranging in age from a woman in her late 60's who appeared more amused than anything to a couple of girls her age who looked far too interested in Natsu for comfort. The intervening women just looked horrified. They were probably here to make her presentable for her interview with her father.

Fuck.

Lucy stuck one hand out of the blankets and waved, attempting to look as regal as possible. "Ummm….good morning everyone. If you could please give me a quarter of an hour that would be lovely. And if someone could please bring Natsu some clothes," she had spotted one maid picking up his bloodied ones from last night with the tips of her fingertips, "that would also be highly appreciated." She watched them scuttle out the door at her words. The elder lady was the last to go, and gave her a wink as she closed the door behind her. Lucy groaned, dropping her face into her hands. How could she have forgotten palace routines so easily? She'd always been awoken by at least four maids while she lived here, six or seven if it was an occasion. No wonder Natsu had been panicked! While he was normally so self assured, no man wanted to be woken up by half a dozen women under the employ of his lover's father. And certainly not while they were naked in bed together after taking her virginity.

She scrambled out of bed and threw on underwear and a nightgown. She sent an apologetic smile Natsu's way as she entered her closet to see if she had anything large enough for him to put on before the maids got back. It was hard not to get distracted by the image of him sitting up in bed, sheets pooling around his hips, but she managed.

Unfortunately, everything she had was either way too small or very, very lacey. She was digging through her nightclothes when she heard a _rip._ Sticking her head out of the closet, she was treated to the sight of Natsu wrapping a torn off portion of her sheet around his hips.

"Natsu! That is hand-dyed silk!"

He shrugged. "It's still hand-dyed silk, Luce. Obviously. And I can hear those women coming back."

Sure enough, a moment later a knock sounded at the door and it opened, revealing her helpers for the day. Lucy noted that it wasn't just the younger women giving Natsu appreciative once-overs this time and gritted her teeth. She refused to make a more of a scene than she already had by scolding some servants. And she had to admit that she really couldn't blame them when he was standing around like some Grecian god in a toga. A hand-dyed silk toga that matched his hair.

The eldest maid stepped forward carrying a pile of clothes. "Sir, we've prepared a room for you across the hall. Your manservants are drawing you a bath, if you will allow me to lead you there." It seemed a request, but her tone brooked no argument. Amusement or not, it was time for propriety and tradition to infringe on the day.

Natsu opened his mouth, but the combined steely looks from both the head maid and Lucy caused him to close his jaw with a snap. He knew this morning couldn't go well for Lucy; he didn't want to make it worse. If it were up to him they'd order some room service, tell everyone to fuck off, and then head back home in a few hours. But doing things the 'right way' mattered to Lucy so he supposed he'd put up with it. Besides, he was willing to bet that the 'manservant' would be able to order said room service and have to let him eat it in the bath. He could definitely deal with that.

So he trailed the maid out of the room, blissfully unaware of seven sets of eyes following his sculpted ass, barely covered in the thin silk. As the door closed behind him, everyone let out a light sigh before snapping into action.

Lucy was scrubbed, polished, and made up to within an inch of her life. She managed to get in a few bites of fruit and half an egg during the process, but by the time she was deemed ready to meet with her father she was starving and irritated. After a taste of freedom, the morning routine dragged.

Her hair was pulled up, a few strands left to curl around her face. Her makeup was fresh and natural, and she had been laced into a pink gown with puffed sleeves and a long A-line skirt. The color matched Natsu's hair, she realized absently. Hopefully he had pants on this time and didn't rip her skirt, too...

As she was marched into the hallway, Natsu appeared in the doorway opposite of her, thankfully dressed. Clearly he'd refused the higher fashion court clothes she knew they would have tried to stuff him into. Instead he wore a loose black peasant style shirt, half tucked into a pair of reddish-brown breeches. He wore his customary sandals and his scarf hung loosely around his neck. He sauntered up to her, hands in pockets, looking her up and down.

"Damn, Luce, it's like when I first met you. You look good, but not really _Lucy,_ you know?" he appraised. She swatted at him and they followed a footman down the hall toward the study. Heaven forbid she be unescorted in the palace regardless of knowing the way. Another pang for her new life in Fiore pulled at her.

Natsu was talking again. "So Erza came by while I was waiting for you to be ready. I guess your dad's been up and stuff for awhile. He called Prince Loser's country and they're sending men to take him back. She said something about signing a treaty, too? I don't remember, but she'll tell you I'm sure. I guess she and Levy met with him and we're all getting honored with a feast tonight!" He drooled a little.

He chattered away and Lucy smiled, happy that her father had taken steps to honor her friends and deport Tristan. It gave her hope that he would be open to her abdication as well.

They turned down the corridor housing the study and Lucy turned to Natsu outside the large oaken doors.

"Natsu, I need to have this conversation alone, alright? If you want, the footman can show you to the dining area or training grounds…" he stopped her with a light touch to her cheek.

"This is gonna be tough for you. I'll be out here." He leaned against the wall and produced an apple from a pocket, clearly ready to wait for her. Lucy shook her head at his stubbornness before taking a deep breath, facing the study. She nodded to the guards stationed outside and they opened the doors.

The study had been repaired from the battle the night before. The papers had been tidied and everything was as she remembered it. Including her father, situated behind his desk with a pen in hand.

Usually when she'd come for these meetings, he'd continue to work for awhile before acknowledging her, his advisor Namvere sending a kind smile her way from where he labored beside his king. But now, there was no Namvere, and she grieved for him. Her father did not make her wait for once. His eyes snapped up to her and he stood, staring for a moment. She thought she saw some emotion in his eyes before he pulled his kingly persona over himself and spoke.

"Lucy."

She curtsied lightly, acknowledging his monarchy. "Your Majesty. Father."

Another moment of awkward silence and then he cleared his throat and said the last thing she'd expected. "I believe I owe you an apology."

She blinked. "What?"

"Given the events of last night, it is clear that Tristan is a traitor and a marriage compact with Zanada was a mistake. I," he appeared to be sucking a lemon, "should have taken your concerns into account when you raised them. Perhaps had I done so, none of this would have happened and we would not be standing here now."

Hope flared to life in Lucy's chest. This was incredible! Her father had never taken her feelings into account, nor listened to concerns she had. Looking back she had to admit she couldn't regret running away; she was so much happier outside the palace. Perhaps, with his new outlook, her father would understand? Her abdication would be alright?

His next words dashed what optimism she'd built.

"You shall be allowed input on the choice of your husband this time. I have instructed the secretaries to compile a list of potential candidates and in a few months we shall hold a ball so you can meet them and then you and I will review together-"

"Father."

"-I'm confident we can choose someone agreeable to you who will also lead this country with integrity-"

"Father."

"-and strength. Tristan will be taken away in several days when the delegation gets here, the king was _very_ complicit with our terms once we provided proof of his crimes, so that leaves you free to marry-"

"Father!"

He stopped. "It is impolite to interrupt, Lucy."

"Father, I'm sorry, but I won't be marrying anyone. I know you got my letter. I am no longer Princess of Argyle."

Jude's face darkened. "That was a stunt designed to keep Tristan off your trail. Clever, I admit. But now that the danger is over you will return to your rightful place."

"No, I won't." She stood firm. "Yes, I left because I refused to be shackled to that disgusting excuse for a human. But it was a long time coming! I have never been happy in this gilded cage, never been anything more than a well educated pawn designed to assist a man and bear his children! I was _free_ out there!"

"Free to spread your legs like a common whore!"

She gasped, hand flying to her mouth.

"I heard about this morning. You're lucky your maids are handpicked for their secrecy and loyalty, and that bigger things have taken the country's attention. We'll have to cover this up and squash any rumors-"

"Squash all the rumors you wish, but do it without me! I'll not be here!"

"Do not push me; I have been more than generous in the light of your-"

"Generous! You want to put me back in a cage! My feelings don't matter!"

"Feelings have no place in duty!"

"I am not your pawn!"

"You are a subject of my crown and you will DO AS I COMMAND!"

...

"Yo."

Both of them whirled around to see Natsu, hands in his pockets. Jude stepped back from where he and Lucy had come nearly chest to chest, red faced and yelling, to turn on Natsu.

"You! How dare you show your face after what you've done! I should have you thrown in the dungeons with Tristan's men!"

Natsu kept his smile, but it was flinty and hard. "You could try."

The king's face bypassed red and went to purple. "You smirk at me after turning my daughter into a plebian slut like you?"

Natsu's grin vanished faster than a fish put down in front of Happy. "Lucy," he growled, "is no slut. She's free to make her own choices and be her own person."

His eyes seemed to glow and Lucy could see the very beginning of flames flickering at his fingertips.

"So far as I can tell, she's not one of your subjects anymore and doesn't have to do jack for you. And as for what I've done, I swooped in and saved your hide and country exactly as I'm contracted to do. And in the middle of the bloody night!"

Jude looked about ready to have an aneurysm but something of what the young wizard said nagged at him and gave him pause.

"Contracted? I sure as hell don't remember contracting to you!"

Natsu shifted into his half form without a word. Tails, claws, wings, and scales burst into being. He raised his hands and between them his fire formed into an odd series of symbols. He sent the fire flying into the wall where the letters singed deep into the wood without setting the place on fire.

"That's my name in the draconic language. You'll find it at the bottom of that fancy plaque you keep in your courtyard where I pick up my treasure every year. You haven't seen me in this form, but the general look should be familiar."

Jude stared, gobsmacked. It was true, he'd never seen the younger dragon's human form. He'd arrived one year with the elder and the handoff had been made, the dragon burning his name into stone. This, then, was the biggest military deterrent to attack by other countries in Jude's arsenal. Who had just saved his country, his life, and his daughter. In retrospect, Lucy could have made a worse choice. Not that he was happy about it. Regardless, he could not keep Lucy here physically. Brute force would not impress this man; not when he could level the castle if he wished. He turned back to his daughter.

"Think of your people, Lucy. What will it mean for them if you leave?"

To his surprise, she smiled slightly, although it was clear the idea pained her. "I wouldn't leave them to the wolves, Father. The next in line is Uncle Arch, and he governs the southern province incredibly well. He's not interested in kingship, but next is his daughter Frasia. When we visited a year ago, he had her in charge of the treasury and she sat on his council. _She_ was able to choose her husband, and he oversees quite a few ongoing projects and also sits on the council. Bring them here, train them, and they will make an able ruling pair one day."

Jude had to admit she was right. He felt a tug as she described her cousin's upbringing: he'd always thought his brother was too lenient with the girl but she'd turned into a marvelous administrator with a passion for the people shared by her husband.

But he wanted his daughter on the throne! The Hearfilia line had ruled for generations and it stung that Lucy would end it. Not only that, her abdication would reveal a weakness to other countries and cause some destabilization. Her marriage would not benefit the land…

Namvere's final words floated across his mind, to look at the trees within the forest. Argyle would suffer for Lucy's loss, but it would survive. But Lucy...she would suffer to remain. And in a rare flash of empathetic insight, he wasn't entirely sure that she would survive it.

Lucy saw some of the indecision in his eyes and she pressed her case. "Allow me to abdicate without issue, Father. I will appear before the people and put my entire support behind Frasia. I will also join to Natsu's contract as an unwavering ally of Argyle. No treasure needed." She threw a small wink Natsu's way. His lips quirked, but his eyes remained on Jude.

"But tomorrow after the ball, I will be leaving. With or without your support."

The king turned to stare out the window, watched by the princess and the dragon. He must be exhausted, because part of him wanted to just let her go. She'd presented the issue so neatly, tied up all the loose ends so well. He felt an odd emotion and after a second identified it as pride mixed with anger. The anger he was familiar with. Pride not so much. And that made him rather sad. He'd like to be proud more often. It was…nice. Rather fuzzy.

Aside from all the unkingly emotional crap, he was aware that Natsu would smash his castle to bits and end his contract without a moment's hesitation if he said no. And that would not be good for Argyle. He turned back to the couple.

"Very well."

Lucy shrieked, twirling dizzily for a moment. Two months ago, she'd never imagined she could ever be free! It was exhilarating! She tuned back in to her father speaking.

"...we shall give the announcement tonight at the ball in order to give Arch and Frasia time to arrive. And _you,"_ he pinned Natsu with a glare fiery enough to match the dragon's own, "will stay in your _own_ room tonight. This is still my house!"

Natsu gave a cheeky salute. "I'll do whatever is necessary to protect your kingdom and treasure, sir."

Jude narrowed his eyes at him for a moment. Natsu didn't budge. "Very well. You are both dismissed. I will see you at the ball tonight."

Lucy dropped a deep curtsy and held it for a moment. "Thank you, Father." she whispered, before taking Natsu's hand and pulling him out the room and down the hall.

Jude was left in his study, alone, surrounded by mountains of paperwork necessary to running his kingdom. He slowly sat back down, gazing out the window toward the sea, and reflected that despite giving up her heritage and kingdom and riches, Lucy might just be the lucky one. Then he shook his head, dispelling the thought, and reached for his communication lacrima to call his brother.

* * *

Natsu and Lucy spent the rest of the day together running around the palace. They'd gone to visit the rest of Fairy Tail to deliver the news and Lucy tearfully thanked everyone for coming to her rescue. She'd opened her vast closet to the girls and made plans to come get ready for the ball with them before taking Natsu's hand and slipping out to the gardens. There they'd wandered through the flowers and getting lost in the hedge maze. Well, Natsu's nose would have allowed him to find his way out in a matter of minutes, but he was enjoying indulging in the kind of activities Jude had threatened him over this morning. So he'd deliberately continued to guide them in the wrong direction until his growling stomach forced him to lead them out.

She left him in a private dining room with the other Fairy Tail men and was immediately whisked away to her own dinner and prep for the ball with the women. He missed her as soon as she walked away, but seeing the mountain of food prepared for them and getting in a fight with Gray over the seventh to last chicken wing made him feel a helluva lot better.

Now, as dusk set over the city, the palace lights came on. Carriages pulled up the drive and disgorged citizens dressed to the nines. The ballroom floor had been polished to gleaming and in the corner the band warmed up their instruments.

On one side of the ballroom was a grand staircase where guests were announced. Once the room was filled to bursting, the herald trumpeted and silence fell.

"His Majesty, King Jude!" Polite applause rose from the floor below as Jude stepped to the top of the stairs. He surveyed his guests and looked to the floating lacrima cameras broadcasting his message to the rest of his country. He'd asked reporters to come for the start of the night to announce the reason for the celebration.

"People of Argyle!" he called out, making a grand sweeping gesture of his arms. "Tonight we have reason to grieve and reason to celebrate in equal measures. Last night, Prince Tristan of Zanada, without his country's knowledge or approval, attempted a coup. He attempted to force my daughter into marriage and sent assassins through these very halls, where several men were killed, including Advisor Namvere." Murmurs of shock swept the room and he raised his voice slightly.

"But! He did not succeed in overtaking us. Our guard fought valiantly and the King of Zanada will be removing the traitor in chains tomorrow."

The crowd cheered and this time Jude waited for it to settle before continuing.

"Despite Argyle's bravery, I would not be here to celebrate this with you today without the warning and help of a group that is here today to be honored. They learned of Tristan's plan, came to Argyle, and fought with us to subdue the invaders. I present to you Fairy Tail of Fiore!"

Everyone stepped out of the wings and carefully trooped down the stairs. Lucy wanted to walk with them as a member of her guild, but held back. Her part came next. As she watched them wave as Jude introduced them individually and their magic, relief hit her in a wave. She was tired of the carefully choreographed life of royalty. Stuffed into a corseted dress, waiting in the wings with a maid fussing with her hem and another smoothing her hair, all so she could wave at a camera for a few moments.

Perhaps if she'd had any real responsibilities, it wouldn't be so bad, but she'd only ever been a pawn. Even now, after removing herself from her role, she was still required to play the part for one more night.

She looked down at her father. While this entire debacle had seemingly opened his eyes somewhat and mellowed him enough to let her go, she knew they would never be close. She sincerely doubted she would see him again more than a few rare instances after this unless wartime called her new contract into play. Kings were too busy to visit their daughters and even if she were here she doubted they would do more than have lunch. Maybe. While he did paperwork. She wouldn't be here, though. Not for a long time. If she made a habit of coming back, he would make a habit of scripting her into his plans, however well intentioned they might be. She was hoping to exchange holiday cards, however.

Then suddenly the trumpet sounded again and the maids stepped back and Lucy realized that this was her cue. She lifted her chin and stepped forward into the light for what she sincerely hoped was the last time.

Plastering a princess smile on her face she lifted her hand a sent a genteel wave to the crowds and the cameras. Gliding down the stairs next to her father, she halted and allowed herself to find Fairy Tail in the crowd at the bottom of the stairs. They were all smiling and cheering and it made her smile feel a little more natural and gave her the strength to launch into her speech.

"People of Argyle. What my father said is true. We have cause to grieve for the harm Tristan has caused-but also reason to celebrate new beginnings. The treaty signed this morning between Zanada and Argyle. The start of a friendship with the most powerful guild in Fiore. And...a new heir to the throne."

She could feel the shock roll through the crowd. As the whispers started, but before the noise could rise up and overcome her, she spoke again.

"After a long time considering and the events of these past weeks, I have decided to rescind my rights to the throne in favor of my cousin, Frasia Duchesca. She is an able administrator and I have seen her passion for this country and it's people. I feel strongly that she will serve you better than I ever could and it allows me to step aside with nothing but joy in my heart. I will be joining Fairy Tail and strengthening Argyle's relations with Fiore. So please...help me welcome Princess Frasia and her husband, Prince Thomas!"

She turned quickly to the top of the stairs where her cousins stepped forward, waving to their new subjects. Frasia was a tall woman with dark brown curls flowing down her back and milky white skin. Her features were almost delicate, but the firm set to her jaw and spark in her eyes reminded Lucy eerily of Erza. Even without knowing her accomplishments, it was clear she was competent and intelligent. Her husband Thomas was a half head taller than her. He had dark eyes and a cocoa complexion. His cheekbones were sharp and he'd shaved his head but allowed a neatly shaped beard to grow. His height and strong features would allow him to be intimidating if need be-he was probably a killer negotiator-but his grin was blindingly brilliant and invited anyone and everyone to be his friend. Together they were a striking couple, and thinking back to their substantial talents and achievements, Lucy knew that she was leaving her country in better hands than her own.

As the crowd let loose with the loudest cheer yet, Lucy realized that she'd completely missed Frasia's speech. By the upturned tilt to her mouth, Frasia knew it. She came over and engulfed Lucy in a hug. Lucy squeezed her back while stammering out an awkward apology.

"It's alright!" the new princess laughed. "It's a big moment for you. You deserve to get lost in your head a little bit. I wanted to come thank you before the party gets going and I have to butter up absolutely everyone in the room. I know this was hard for you. If you ever need anything please don't hesitate to come to us."

Lucy smiled at her rather tearfully. "Thank you," she murmured, "but I'll be leaving for Fiore tomorrow. Whenever I'm near, though, I'll make sure to call on you if you aren't too busy."

Frasia laughed. "We could never be too busy for you, Lucy! But if you'll excuse me, I see Thomas is already being swamped by politicians. I should go help!" She flitted off to her husband, whose eyes lit up as she joined him. Lucy watched them mingle until a warm hand wrapped itself around her arm and she was yanked down the stairs.

"C'mon, Luce! I saw a buffet table over there!" Natsu pulled her through the room toward the display of food, but Lucy tugged back halfway there. He looked over his shoulder.

"What's up?"

Lucy glanced around. Everyone was focused on Jude and his new heir. It was the first time she'd ever been in this room with no one looking at her. She held her hand out to Natsu.

"Would you dance with me?"

She'd always had to dance with people she barely knew. Had to keep the polite smile on her face while she was either bored to tears or while her partner got a little too friendly. She loved to dance, but had hated the necessities of her position. Now was her chance to enjoy herself.

Natsu reached out and touched her fingers, his other hand falling to her waist and drawing her to him. He could see how much she wanted this.

"Yeah, Luce. We can dance all night if you want. At some point I'm gonna have to waltz us by that buffet, though."

She laughed as he steered them around the room awkwardly, trying not to step on her feet. Natsu was a quick learner and after so long fighting, dancing was easy to pick up. Twenty minutes later they were twirling around the room like pros. Natsu grinned down at his Lucy. Now seemed like a good time to ask something he'd been thinking about for the past few days. He cleared his throat awkwardly and she looked up.

"So, ehm, I was thinking," he hedged, all of sudden doubts hitting him like Gray with a surprise ice attack, "maybeyou'dwanttogooutsometime?"

She squinted. "Sorry Natsu, what?"

"I said, would you maybe want to go out sometime? Like, a date? With me?"

Lucy stared. Had the man who'd kidnapped her a month ago, taken an arrow from her spirit, flown to another country to rescue her from a forced marriage, and taken her virginity just asked her to go out? Like, for coffee and a show? She realized that she should probably give some response as his face slowly turned the color of an overly ripe tomato.

"Well…sure! But why now? Seems a little, ah, backwards."

He spun her deftly around another couple. "I know. It's goofy. But I was thinking, I kinda forced into this-not the last few weeks, I know!" he hastily added as she opened her mouth to reassure him, "But I did in the beginning. And since I knew you were into it I never really gave you a choice. But being here's kinda driven it home that that's been your whole life. Seeming like you have a lot but never getting to choose any of it. So I…wanted to ask."

Lucy couldn't help it, she started to cry. Goddamn, she had to stop crying all the time. This week was just endless waterworks. She grinned at him.

"Yes, Natsu. I'd love to go on a date with you. Maybe you can take me out for lunch when we get home."

He laughed and dipped her down for a kiss. Straightening back up, he noticed Jude glaring daggers at him across the room and twirled Lucy under one arm to throw a salute his way.

* * *

"MY CHILDREN ARE HOME!"

Makarov's voice boomed in her ears as he elongated his arms to crush everyone into a group hug. Crushed between Natsu and Erza, Lucy struggled to breath. Although she managed a squeak when Natsu's hand worked its way between them to grab her ass.

When Makarov let them all down she collapsed, massaging her ribs. But only for a moment, because that was when the crowd of members who'd stayed home came rushing in. She was surrounded by well wishers telling her how happy she was here with them, how excited they were that she was home. It was making her tear up again. " _Dammit, stoppit Lucy!"_ she demanded of herself.

She dashed the tears away and let her smile take over. She'd been right to leave Argyle behind. Even after only a month, this was a better home than she'd ever dreamed she could have. Her smile only grew when Cana jumped onto the bar hoisting a barrel over her head.

"Alright Fairy Tail! Time to fuckin' party!"

Everyone cheered as someone turned up the music, and the guild got down to the business of throwing one of the rowdiest bashes they could muster.

Despite having woken up early with Gajeel to fly them all home, Natsu was in the middle of the boisterous crowd all night long. He started six brawls, ate a disgusting amount of food followed by the huge bonfire someone had started in the back (he relit it with his magic, but that didn't stop the beginning of brawl number seven), and put on a fire show for Asuka. But as the clock ticked toward midnight, he appeared next to Lucy where she lounged at a table with Levy.

"What do you think about going home, huh?" he murmured in her ear, sending goosebumps up her arms. She turned and nodded, saying her goodbyes to Levy as they headed toward the doors.

"Hey buddy, we're heading back! You want to come or stay here with Charle a while?" Natsu called over to Happy. The blue cat barely spared a glance from where he was ogling Charle with one eye and a salmon filet with the other.

"I'll be back later, Natsu! Maybe tomorrow….we'll see how many fish Mira has.." he trailed off, drooling. It didn't seem to endear him to Charle at all.

Chuckling, they walked out the door and Natsu scooped her up into his arms as he unfurled his wings. Lucy snuggled in as he launched them into the air. She hadn't really had the chance to be close to him for almost 24 hours...she'd insisted he sleep in his own room the night before, citing improved relations with her father, and then she'd spent most of the day in Laki's travelling dragon box before they'd been thrown back into the arms of their happy family. Being held close as they soared through the air was wonderful and his heat kept her warm despite the cool night air rushing past.

In short order they touched down in front of the cave entrance and Natsu's magic made the door appear. He didn't put her down, keeping her pulled to his chest bridal style as he carried her down the hall, torches lighting their way.

Weaving his way through the treasure piles, he brought them to the back portion of the cavern. Stepping into the cozy studio gave Lucy a wonderfully content feeling, like she'd come home. But really, she'd felt that way since Natsu had broken down the door at her 'wedding' and met her gaze with his own. He felt like home.

He set her gently down on the bed, sinking down next to her and half on top of her, and she realized why he'd wanted to leave early. Good; she'd been hungering after him all night.

She lifted up to meet his lips as he leaned down to her. The kiss was sweet, loving, but quickly a spark of fire grew and it turned heated. His tongue slipped out and swiped at the seam of her mouth and she opened, bringing her tongue to dance with his. He groaned into her and she swallowed the sound up, running her hands in his hair and tugging.

He responded by rolling onto her more fully, one knee separating her legs, a hand bracing himself on the bed and the other cupping the back of her head, holding her to him. Lucy's hands found their way to his hem and pulled his shirt over his head, barely breaking off the kiss to do so. Once she'd thrown it to the other side of the room she raked her nails down his back.

Natsu arched up, growling, before literally tearing her dress off her body. She gasped and part of her wanted to remonstrate, but it was drowned in desire by the naked need she saw in his eyes before his mouth was on her neck, scorching its way down to her shoulder. She had enough presence of mind to reach back and snap her bra off before he could tear that, too, and then his mouth and hands were on her breasts and her fingers went right back into his hair as she moaned.

He sucked hard on one nipple before letting go with a pop, and rose up slightly to get at her underwear. Struck by inspiration and desire, Lucy pushed at his chest and rolled him over before quickly pulling his pants down his legs. She wanted to explore him a bit, but she could sense a hunger in him-and her-that meant a slow lovemaking would have to wait.

Throwing his pants in the opposite direction of his shirt, she lowered herself to eye level with his cock. It was straining upright, nearly purple in his desperation. A bead of precum adorned the tip.

Lucy wrapped her hand around the base and licked the pearl on his tip. Natsu's reaction was immediate. He nearly bucked off the bed, grabbing at the sheets and groaning.

"Luce!"

He propped himself onto his elbows only to fall back down as she wrapped her lips around him and gave an experimental bob. She did it again, this time swirling her tongue around as she did so, and suddenly she was on bottom and he was tearing at her panties. He'd moved so fast she was disoriented for a second, looking around rather wildly.

"Did you not like it?" she gasped out as her panties went the way of his shirt.

"Gods Lucy, I _loved_ it."

He surged back up her body and caught her in a heated kiss, one hand finding its way to her sex and rolling her clit in between his index and thumb. Lucy was so turned on she nearly exploded then and there, and she had a flash of insight as to why he'd thrown her off.

Natsu lined himself up at her entrance and slid into her carefully despite his wild energy. She appreciated the gentle gesture, but she was more than warmed up and ready for him. She wrapped her legs around his waist and hissed into his ear. "Don't hold back. I want you to _fuck_ me, Natsu!"

His hips snapped into hers at a frantic pace at that, and in a moment they were both gasping. Lucy threw her head back, feeling herself get closer and closer to the edge with each pounding. Natsu reached back at grabbed one of her legs, throwing it over his shoulder. His next thrust went deeper than he'd gone before and Lucy screamed as he hit a spot inside that had her seeing stars. Three thrusts later, Natsu roared as he reached his climax as well and Lucy felt his wonderfully hot seed coat her insides, soothing some of the light post coital ache she already knew would become a regular feeling after the kind of intense sex they'd had tonight. She was completely ok with that.

Natsu collapsed face first next to her, turning his head after a second to shoot her a grin. It softened to a smile and he reached out to draw a lingering finger down her jaw. She caught his hand and held it, smiling back. After a moment he reached out and pulled her into his chest.

"I'm so happy you're home, Luce. Maybe we could go on that date tomorrow, yeah?"

She snuggled into his pecs. "I'd love that. And Natsu?"

"Yeah, Luce?"

"I'm glad I'm home, too."

* * *

 **The end!**

 **Hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I liked writing it! I have a couple ideas for multichapters and I'm planning on finishing up Incubus' Bite, but you may not see me for awhile. I try to write at least half or two thirds of a story before I start posting so I can keep up with the weekly updates.**

 **On another mildly related note, I like to edit more than I like to write. If anyone is looking for a beta, I'd be interested in looking over your drafts and seeing if we'd be a good fit to work together!**

 **Goodbye for now, everyone! Thanks for coming on this journey with me!**


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